


Brick & Mortar BOOOOks

by astudyinfic



Category: Cut & Run - Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux
Genre: Bookstores, Cats, Fluff, Halloween, Humor, M/M, Post-Canon, Shenanigans, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2020-11-09 06:47:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 31
Words: 29,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20849234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astudyinfic/pseuds/astudyinfic
Summary: It's almost Halloween.  Ty has an idea for the bookshop.  Zane just hopes they all survive.





	1. Cat

**Author's Note:**

> Last December, we did a "31-days of Cut & Run" challenge which was a lot of fun. Every fic there was a stand-alone piece and it worked well. 
> 
> This year, we're doing a "31-days of Cut & Run" challenge but I've decided to make it extra hard and try to make it one coherent fic. Let's see how this goes, shall we?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ty gets an idea. The cats approve (according to him). Zane isn't so sure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Day 1 prompt:** Cat

“I have an idea!” Ty announced as he returned to Zane’s eyesight after having disappeared to the back part of the shop for the better part of an hour.

Zane had been considering going to look for him for the past twenty minutes and now wondered if he’d left it too long. “There is no scarier sentence in the English language, doll.” He pointedly ignored Ty’s glare, having grown immune to them over their years together. “But, because I love you, I’ll humor you. What is your idea?”

“Nope, sorry. You lost your chance. Jiminy and Cricket will get to hear my idea and we will ignore you entirely. For the whole month.”

On the one hand, being ignored by the cats for a month sounded like Zane’s idea of paradise. He occasionally dreamed of sending them to live with Nick and Kelly on the boat, just for a chance to go up and down the stairs without furry monsters trying to trip him as he walked.

But on the other hand, a month with Ty ignoring him meant a month without sex and Zane _really_ liked sex with Ty.

“I’m sorry, Ty, that was very rude of me. Please, tell me your idea.” Zane wasn’t above groveling if it got him what he wanted. At least as far as Ty was concerned.

Ty narrowed his eyes. “That didn’t sound very sincere but I’ll forgive you this time because you’re going to love this.”

Zane highly doubted that.

“You know how it’s October first?”

“Yes, I’m aware of the date.” A time-sensitive idea that had Ty this excited? Zane hated himself for actually being curious now.

Ty grinned and gestured around the store. “Well, that means it’s almost Halloween. And we have a bookstore.”

Holding back his sigh, Zane ran a hand through his hair. Ty seemed determined to drag this out as long as he possibly could. “And...”

“And...I think we should do a haunted house! We have all this space. We have all those horror books for ideas, aside from the fact that we’ve lived through enough that would scare the crap out of a normal person. Come on, Zane! It would be fun.”

It wasn’t a terrible idea. It could drum up business, encourage people to come into the shop at a time of year when things were a little slow before the holiday rush. And with Ty this excited, it would keep him busy and out of trouble between ‘deliveries’.

Though, that raised a good question. “How would this work with the deliveries? Just shut everything down when a particularly belligerent one comes through?”

“Just like we handle the shop and the deliveries. It will be fine, Lone Star. More than fine, it will be fun! You do remember what fun is, right?”

Zane rolled his eyes at his husband. He loved Ty more than anything though there were times like this that he wonders if it wouldn’t be easier just to smother him in his sleep. Still, he married Ty for better or for worse, and God help him, this certainly wasn’t the worst. “Alright, tell me how this would work.”

“I’m thinking the different sections could be made scary in their own ways. Horror is an obvious one. Real crime being another. We could make it get scarier as you go through the store so people who aren’t up for full-on terror could opt-out at any point.”

Zane had to admit, this was a pretty good idea. And considering how much Ty had figured out already, he’d been thinking about this for a while. When Ty actually planned things out, they had a tendency to work perfectly.

“OH! And we could dress up Jiminy and Cricket and have them be part of the festivities.”

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Zane sighed heavily. It had all been going so well. “We are not including the cats in the haunted house. There is no way you could train them that well. But the rest of it doesn’t sound too bad.”

Ty bounced on his toes, that nervous energy he always carried was about to be given an outlet, which was generally a good thing for everyone involved. A bored Ty was a destructive Ty. “Doesn’t sound too bad isn’t exactly the high praise I was going for, Garrett.”

“It seems like a lot of work, Ty, that’s all. A haunted house on top of running the store and running the...black market orchids? It’s a lot, even for us. But if you think we can do it, I suppose we could give it a try.”

Ty grinned then kissed him, long and slow, not caring that they were standing in the middle of the store where anyone could see them. Zane pulled him close and decided if he got this kind of reaction from his husband, the bookshop could be a haunted house the whole year round if Ty wanted.

When they broke apart, still holding onto one another, Ty was still grinning at him. “I haven’t even told you the best part.”

“There’s a better part for you than dressing up your cats because I know you are going to do it whether I approve it or not, decorating the store like a crime scene and scaring the hell out of our customers for a whole month?” That right there sounded like Ty’s dream come true. What could possibly make it better?

“Not better for me. Better for YOU.” Zane raised a brow, waiting for him to finish his thought. “I have a name for the haunted house.”

When he paused, Zane wondered whether he was supposed to be guessing but had no idea what could possibly be going through Ty’s mind. He’d stopped trying to understand what the squirrels were up to in there after Ty started SERE training their cats.

“Brick and Mortar.”

“Doll,” Zane said slowly, just in case there was something wrong here that he was missing. “That’s already the name of the shop.”

Ty smacked him on the chest. “Let me finish. Brick and Mortar BOOOOOks.”

For a moment, everything froze as Zane tried to come up with a response. It was perfect. Of course, it was. It didn’t change the name of the shop, technically, but made it clear there was something new going on.

And it was a _pun_.

“God I love you,” he finally said, pulling Ty to him and kissing him once more. For this man, he would do anything. Even put up with a haunted house in their book store for the next month. 

And who knew. Ty could be right. It might end up being fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out the other stories for today's prompt:
> 
> [Day # 1: Cat](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20854061) by accal1a  
[Foundlings](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20853593) by mindfluff


	2. 3AM

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ty really needs to work on his timing. There are certain times of day when work is the last thing Zane wants to be talking about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Day 2 prompt:** 3AM

Ty threw himself into planning with the same exuberance he did anything he was interested in. Like the Mustang, the shop was torn apart with the meticulous love of someone who wanted to rebuild it to something better. For his part, Zane could only watch with equal parts exasperation and affection. It made Ty happy so it made Zane happy. Even if he currently had no idea where any of the biographies were. 

The entire day was spent reorganizing, making lists, organizing again, with occasional outbursts of YES! and I’M A GENIUS that had Zane fondly rolling his eyes before turning his attention back to his own work. With no back door deliveries, Ty was able to spend all day planning to make his dream become a reality. Though, judging by the lists, the drawings, and the ideas he mentioned in passing, Zane expected it would be nearly Halloween before he had it all implemented. 

If it all came to fruition at all. This was all far more than Zane expected when he agreed to the plan.

As Zane made dinner, Ty continued to talk about nothing but his haunted house, wandering off to talk to the cats when Zane wasn’t as excited about it as Ty thought he should be. Jiminy and Cricket hung on his every word, so they were a good audience that satisfied Ty’s need for attention while Zane focused on actually making them something to eat. Zane appreciated the brief respite from the plans that seemed to be taking over their lives after only a few hours of existence.

By evening, they’d moved on to other topics and Zane breathed a sigh of relief. He thought the haunted house was a good idea for both Ty and the shop, was happy to help where Ty needed him to, but it wasn’t occupying his every thought as it did for Ty. Since retiring from the FBI, Zane appreciated not having to think about work at all hours (unless the backdoor bell rang, of course.)

When Zane drifted off to sleep that night with Ty in his arms, he wasn’t thinking about the bookshop, the haunted house, or anything even remotely related to work. 

Ty, it turned out, was thinking about nothing but that. 

Zane managed a few hours of sleep before his husband elbowed him in the ribs. “Garrett, are you awake?” Ty whisper-shouted into the stillness of their bedroom. 

A glance at the clock told him it was just after three in the morning and if it wasn’t an emergency, Ty was going to die. He rolled over and put the pillow over his head, mumbling, “Well, I _was_.”

“Good, you’re awake.” He managed to open his eyes just wide enough to glare at his infuriating husband. Unfortunately, Ty was as immune to Zane’s glares as Zane was to Ty’s. “I was thinking.”

“Why does it feel like all of our conversations start like that these days?”

Ty ignored him. “What do you think about having a hands-on part of the haunted house? I know peeled grapes and cooked spaghetti are standard but you and I both know they aren’t all that accurate. I bet Digger and Doc would be happy to help us come up with something”

At this point, it was clear that he wasn’t getting sleep until Ty got this out of his system so Zane flopped onto his back and stared at the ceiling, praying for some sort of relief from this ridiculous conversation, or at least a way to postpone it until after the sun had risen. “You want Sidewinder, particularly Digger and Kelly, to come up with something that feels exactly like body parts for us to use in a haunted house? Is there any way we can be certain they won’t send us _actual _body parts?”

“Well, no, but I’m relatively certain neither of them has gone the serial killer route in the last few months.” 

If that was supposed to be reassuring, it had absolutely the opposite effect on Zane. His heart ratcheted up and he wondered if he would ever be able to get that idea out of his head. If any of them were going to become serial killers, it would be Doc. And he’d be good enough at it to never get caught. 

Zane knew what his nightmares would be about for the rest of the night.

While Zane reeled silently in horror at that thought, Ty kept talking, though Zane didn’t hear a thing that led up to, “I mean, if we call up McCoy, they might have something we could use.”

If he wanted to sleep again that night (or ever again), Zane realized he needed to put a stop to this train of thought before it had a chance to leave the station.

Using what energy he had considering the time of day and the lack of sleep, Zane rolled over on top of his husband and kissed him to stop the flow of words from his mouth. Ty gasped against his lips but quickly got on board with the plan. 

They stripped out of their clothes with the practiced efficiency of lovers who’d been together for years. Ty reached blindly for the lube, pressing it into Zane’s hand, who accepted it with a growl of anticipation. 

Their bodies knew one another well enough at this point that it took almost no time at all before Zane could slide into his husband’s body, holding him close as they came together in the most intimate of ways. 

They moved in tandem, knowing what the other liked, what set off the man he loved and eventually their kisses broke apart when their breathing came in gasps and moans of pleasure. And when they came, it was with their husband’s name on their lips and his hands on their skin. 

Sated and content, the two of them curled together, uncaring of the mess between them. Zane’s eyes were just falling shut, drifting back into his much-needed sleep, when Ty’s voice once more penetrated the silence. 

“What do you think about mummies? I think we could incorporate mummies, don’t you?”

Zane spent the rest of the night sleeping in the guest room. The mummies could wait. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out the other stories for today's prompt:
> 
> [Day #2 - 3AM](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20872031) by accal1a


	3. Color

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ty's punishment has some unexpected and colorful consequences.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Day 3 prompt:** Color

Due to the lack of sleep (and a not-small desire to punish his husband, just a little), Zane made Ty open the shop without him while he took a leisurely shower alone. Much to Ty’s dismay. (Though Zane was gratified and slightly flattered that it was the showering alone part that made Ty so upset, compared to having to go to work early.)

The shop was Zane’s baby the way the cats were Ty’s so he rarely took time off, even if it was a few minutes at the beginning of the day. Having breakfast at their dining room table while reading the newspaper seemed like a luxury, and one he should afford himself more often. But eventually, the idea of Ty alone in the shop with nothing to do weakened Zane’s resolve to draw the punishment out any longer so he cleaned up and headed downstairs, only to pause the moment he stepped into the shop. 

Because something was different.

The first thing Zane’s mind thought was _purple_ because there was a LOT of purple. The whole store was washed in it and while it wasn’t Zane’s favorite color, it wasn’t entirely unpleasant. Except, this was their bookstore and it wasn’t right. At all. 

It took an absurdly long time (probably only a few seconds but still, Zane blamed sleep deprivation for even that delay) for him to realize that Ty had replaced the lightbulbs. With black lights.

Despite the dark brick walls and the deep, rich wood of the shelves and counter, enough lighter colored items glowing the eerie purple light that Zane could make his way to the front counter without too much issue. If Ty was going for creepy, he definitely achieved it, but Zane had expected that they would be able to stay open for business during the time Ty was running his haunted house. With the lights this dim, the store was nearly unnavigable. No one would find the book they were looking for right now.

“Doll?” he called, trying to keep his voice even. No reason to put Ty on the defensive before Zane even saw him. “Where are you, Ty? I can’t see anything?” 

“Backroom!”

Zane picked his way through the shop, squinting when he stepped into the bright light of their storeroom. “I thought you were going to open the shop.”

“We are open,” Ty said without looking up from the box he was digging through. “No one has come in yet because no one is out in Fells Point this time of day to buy a book.” It was an ongoing argument. Ty argued that they didn’t need to open that early because they never had customers then anyway. Zane figured if he was already there doing paperwork, he might as well have the store open in case someone _did _need something that early. 

Since Zane opened most days, the store opened too. 

But that wasn’t the point. The point was, “How will they know we are open?”

Ty finally looked up at him, offering a shrug. “The lights are on.” He went back to digging in the box, clearly looking for something specific. 

“Yes, the lights, Ty.” Zane looked pointedly at the door to the front and then back again. “How did you find time to change them all since you got down here?” There had to be at least fifty lights in the shop that would have needed to be changed and Ty would have needed a ladder for most of them. 

Ty didn’t answer immediately, instead crying out “AH HA!” and holding up a roll of yellow crime tape. “This is exactly what I need.”

A small part of Zane wanted to ask why Ty still had a roll of crime tape in a box in the back of their shop but he knew Ty’s hoarding tendencies. Crime tape was a relatively minor thing to be surprised about. 

“We can use this in the crime section. What do you think?”

“_That_ is a wonderful idea,” Zane said, happy to praise Ty doing something that wasn’t completely disruptive. “What isn’t a wonderful idea are all the black lights. Ty, we can’t run a business if everything is too dark for people to see.” Because they did still have to run a business. Sure, it was a cover for the CIA but it was still their book shop, the one they’d planned long before the CIA came in the picture. And Zane was damned if he was going to let it just stutter along. 

Ty, perhaps recognizing that this was important to Zane, nodded and came around to give him a quick kiss. “I was trying to figure out which area would be best with the black light. I’ll take the rest of it down before the regulars start to show up around eleven.” 

As his blood pressure returned to normal, Zane smiled and rested his chin on Ty’s shoulder. “I know you’re excited about this idea but it can’t interfere with our actual work. If you can promise me that, then I’ll get behind this one hundred percent.”

His hand on his heart, Ty looked the picture of sincerity. Zane knew him too well to believe that but he knew that Ty would at least try to obey the rules Zane set down for him. “I won’t let it interfere with the books or the orchids. And I will let you have some input in it, as long as everything doesn’t turn to zombies.”

Zane pretended to consider that before nodding. “Fine, but I think all zombies would make a great haunted house.”

“It’s not haunted if it doesn’t have ghosts, Zane!”

“Agree to disagree, Grady.”

Ty threw up his hands and groaned as he pushed past Zane and into the shop, to hopefully fix the lights before any actual customers arrived. Zane could picture the lawsuits now if someone were to trip and fall face-first into the shelf because they couldn’t see in the dim lighting.

But if Ty left a few of the lights up, that would be okay with Zane. The purple really did look nice when it wasn’t the entire store. 

Maybe the back corner. The one Ty wanted to make extra scary. It would look good back there. 

Maybe with a few zombies?


	4. Weapons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Running a bookstore/CIA safe house presents some unique problems for the whole plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Day 4 prompt:** Weapons

With the lights in the shop returned to normal, and Ty happily working on his idea for the crime scene part of the haunted house, Zane settled in for a normal day of work. At least he hoped. 

That hope lasted all of three hours when, just before he sent Ty out to get them lunch, the bell at the back door rang. Ty appeared almost instantly from where he’d been working, gun already in hand. They had them stored all over the store, hidden in places customers wouldn’t think to look, just in case. 

They might be a bookstore but they were also a CIA safe house and one could never be too careful. 

Zane nodded to Ty, putting his hand on his own weapon that they kept stashed by the cash register. They had this down to a science now. Ty would deal with whatever was at the back, Zane willing to jump in the moment there was any trouble, otherwise, he would stay at the front and make sure everything appeared normal to the general public. 

When Ty disappeared into the back, Zane tightened his grip on his gun and waited, hoping he wouldn’t hear anything that made him need to use it. He hadn’t gotten nearly enough sleep to put up with the CIA today, even if they did pay most of the bills. But nothing but silence came from the back. Zane counted to ten and was coming around the counter to go check on his husband when Ty came back out, laughing. 

“You won't believe it. It was a delivery. An _actual_ delivery. They had the wrong building and were trying to drop off seven crates of crabs. I think they were a little unnerved to have someone answer the door and pull a gun on them.”

Zane sighed, expecting a call from Langley sooner rather than later about pulling their weapons on civilians and keeping a low profile. It had been a few weeks since they had one of those phone calls. He supposed they were due.

“I’m assuming you sent them on their way? Maybe gave them directions and apologized for the gun in their face?” 

Ty looked a little sheepish and Zane tried not to think about which one of those he didn’t do. “More or less.”

Rolling his eyes fondly, Zane stepped close enough to give Ty a peck on the lips. “I love you, doll, but you need to stop scaring the civilians. You probably don’t have to answer that door with your gun drawn. We’ve never needed it and we both know you could pull it faster than they could.” Ty and weapons were like a match made in terrifying heaven. Zane didn’t think there was any reason to think someone would get a jump on Ty, not at their shop, on their own turf.

“It did make me think about something, though, darling’.” Zane raised a brow, waiting for him to continue. “We have guns stashed all over the shop. So far no one has found them and I would like it to stay that way, but with the haunted house, do you think we should put them in less conspicuous places?”

The guns were hidden in the most inconspicuous places they could think of. Taped under shelves of genres no one ever visited, hidden behind a painting on the wall, inside one of the displays looking fake but all too real. They were easy for either Ty or Zane to get to on a moment’s notice but wouldn’t draw the attention of anyone else. 

But Ty probably had a point. No one had found them yet but it would be just their luck that the one time someone found a gun was when they were scared out of their mind because Ty rigged a giant spider to fall on their head. Someone having access to live ammunition in a haunted house was a sure-fire way for someone to get killed. 

Then the bookshop would probably end up haunted for real and Zane could only deal with one ghoul in the house, and he preferred the one he married. 

“You’re right. But we still need them. Should we just carry the whole month and remove the extra weapons from the public areas?” It seemed the safest option, and terrified or not, no customer was going to be able to disarm either of them. Adrenaline could do a lot of things but that wasn’t one of them. 

Ty was already heading for the Christian Romance section to retrieve the Glock they had hidden in one of the series. It was one of Ty’s greatest ideas to date. No one was going to come into a shop run by two queer men looking for Christian romance, he’d argued. “If anyone does, then they’ll come face to face with CIA issue service weapon and well, then we’ll get another of those emails.”

Not one person had even entered the section since they opened the shop two years ago. 

Zane retrieved the one hidden inside an ancient-looking cookbook from the fifties with some horrid meat gelatin dish with the world’s most unappealing name on the cover. Occasionally someone would pull the book back on the shelf but it went back on just as quickly. 

The third was behind some benign painting that Owen sent them as a housewarming gift. It had a place specifically for a gun and ammunition on the back. (Ty nearly cried at the thoughtfulness of it when the painting arrived. Zane sort of wanted to paint over it...)

Once the weapons were retrieved and placed in the back with all their other gear for work, they both sat in the comfortable chairs in the reading area at the front of the store. “I bet the fairgrounds doesn’t have to deal with this when they make their haunted house every year,” Ty grumbled. 

“I bet the fairgrounds isn’t a CIA safe house either. And if it is, what do they need us for?” 

“True. But it does sort of feel like we live in the funhouse, doesn’t it?”

Zane laughed. “Especially when Sidewinder is visiting. Too many clowns, not enough room.”

His husband started to laugh along with him before he realized what Zane had said. “Hey!” he yelped, which only caused Zane to laugh louder. 

Yeah, this might have been Ty’s idea but Zane intended to have fun with it as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to my friends on the discord group for the ideas about which genre to hide a gun in. I think this worked perfectly, don't you?


	5. Superstition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zane finally gets on board with the haunted house idea. 
> 
> Ty begins to regret everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Day 5 Prompt:** Superstition
> 
> I hope everyone understands that I have no real plan for the fic and am just writing chapter by chapter as each prompt comes up. So if it comes across disjointed or just plain weird, blame 50% on the prompts and 50% on my own general strangeness. :)

As the days went by the haunted house started to take shape. They had a plan and while Zane minded the store, Ty got to work on bringing it to life. It was going well and Ty was pleased. But more importantly, at least to Ty, Zane was expressing more and more interest in the development of said house. He had opinions on everything from what scenes to put in what area to how to make the fake blood for the crime scene. 

They were both having a great time. 

Until the fateful day, they reached the games section of the shop. Ty couldn’t figure out what to put there. “Lone Star! Should we just leave this area empty?” Surely they wouldn’t be able to decorate the _whole_ store. This was as good as any for one to leave alone. Particularly since Ty couldn’t figure out how to make it work in a haunted house.

Zane walked up behind him, wrapping his arms around Ty’s waist. Ty leaned back into the embrace, still as thrilled as the first time that they were allowed to have this, to love as openly as they did. “What exactly is the problem, doll?”

Continuing to stare at the small section, Ty shrugged. “I just don’t know what to put here.” The problem was, it was mostly just a walkway rather than a real section. People would need to walk through it but it wasn’t big enough to be anything really exciting. So, any of the grand ideas Ty had for the other parts of the store wouldn’t work here. “Maybe we can put up some spiders or something? I don’t know.” Spiders were scary. Ty hated them along with everything else that creeped and crawled. “Or snakes?”

“Snakes! Why did it have to be snakes?” Ty elbowed his husband in the ribs as Zane tried to dance away from the hit. “I mean, we could do that...” The way Zane trailed off, it sounded like he had an idea and Ty turned, hoping to hear something that would solve this problem. He wouldn’t be able to move on until it was taken care of. It was one of those things that would eat at him otherwise. 

“Give me a minute, doll. I’ll be right back.” Zane gave him a quick kiss and then disappeared among the shelves. With his height, Ty could see the top of his head moving through the maze that was their shop but he couldn’t figure out just what his husband had in mind. 

The last thing Ty expected was to see Zane dragging their large ladder out of the storage closet. He set it up in the aisle way before going to pick up Cricket and carry her back over. The only time Ty ever saw Zane pick up the cats was when he was removing them from someplace they weren’t supposed to be. 

“Okay, before you say no, hear me out.” 

Ty frowned. If Zane wanted to help, Ty wasn’t planning on arguing. Unless it was something that he already knew Ty wouldn’t like. But based on the ladder and Cricket, Ty struggled to see where his husband was going with this. “What are you thinking?”

“A lot of the scenes you have are big things; murder scenes, or giant monsters, or things that go bump in the night. What about something small and subtle and mental?”

Ty grinned. Zane could be a real evil bastard when he wanted to be and Ty loved him all the more for it. “So you want to mess with the minds of the general public? I knew you would come around to my way of thinking. So, what’s your idea?”

“Superstitions,” Zane said with an evil grin. 

Anything else and Ty might have grinned along with him. As it was, his blood ran cold. Zane couldn’t possibly be suggesting what Ty thought he was suggesting. “Like...?” he prompted. 

“Like walking under a ladder or looking in a broken mirror or opening an umbrella inside or having a black cat walk in front of them.” Zane held up Cricket, who purred happily at the attention. “Or as close to a black cat as we can get.”

Ty was torn between insisting they would need a third cat - a black one - in order to make this happen and absolute horror at the very idea. What Zane out of his mind?!?

“This better be your idea of a joke, Lone Star. What do you think you are playing at? There are some things you just don’t do and you mentioned almost all of them. We’ve already had the bookshop blow up once before. Do you want that to happen again?”

Zane, damn him, had the nerve to laugh at his concerns. “Don’t you think you’re overreacting a little, Ty? Nothing is going to happen if we make people walk under a ladder.”

“And how do you know that? How do you know that we aren’t going to curse all of us? That’s not a risk we should be taking, Garrett!” Ty was beside himself just thinking about it. Inviting that kind of bad luck _on purpose_ was the most idiotic thing Ty heard in ages. Why would they do that? Why would they try and make things harder on themselves?

Smirking, Zane shrugged at him. “It’s a haunted house. It’s supposed to be scary. And I think it should be scary for everyone, not just our customers.” 

His husband knew him too well and Ty hated it as much as he loved it. “And what in this scenario is the thing that scares you?” They’d had that conversation before and Ty wasn’t about to throw any of Zane’s actual fears back at him. He wasn’t cruel. Just a bit of an asshole. There was a difference. 

Zane was also an asshole, however (that was probably why they worked so well together), so Ty knew that whatever the answer was that Zane gave him, it would be obnoxious. 

“What scares me here? Leaving you in charge of anything involving the bookstore.” Zane smirked and raised a brow, daring Ty to challenge that.

Ty shouldn’t have asked. He knew better and yet, he walked right into that. With a sigh, he shook his head. “I hate you. You know that?”

“Yep. Love you too, doll.”

And Ty couldn’t help but smile at that, no matter how hard he tried not to.


	6. Scars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zane thinks they should dress up and Ty agrees until he figures out where Zane was going with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Day 6 Prompt:** Scars

While Ty was most looking forward to working in the true crime section of the bookstore, Zane’s excitement focused almost entirely on horror. Ty shouldn’t have been surprised. How many nights had he sat through zombie movies with Nick and Zane? How often had his best friend asked to talk to Zane instead of him? If Ty wasn’t absolutely secure in their relationship, he might have been jealous. 

As it was, he knew what they had was unshakable. And besides, who would ever choose Nick over him?

But, it meant that as much as Ty hated to admit it, Zane knew more about this genre than he did. 

So far, his ideas had been pretty normal. Monsters that lurked over the top of the shelves, horrible noises of things that went bump in the night. All of which were easily achieved without too much effort on either of their parts. 

“What about us?” Zane asked out of nowhere while they were working on rigging the sound system to play the creepy noises as people walked by. 

Ty blinked at the question that seemingly came out of nowhere. “What do you mean, what about us?”

“I mean, should we dress up? Is it going to be as effective if the whole store is dressed up for the holiday but we are standing here in our normal clothes? It feels like we should get into character if the store is.”

The thought of how they should dress never once crossed Ty’s mind and now it felt like a grievous oversight. “We really should,” he muttered, mind racing to come up with what outfits could go with the overall theme. “Crime scene victims? We probably have some clothes that could be sacrificed for some stab wounds, gunshots, and fake blood.”

Zane hummed, staring at his own hands. “Maybe, but if we had to do that every day once this is up and running, we’d probably get tired of it. I was thinking something easier. Something that wouldn’t require much beyond some stage makeup or a new shirt.”

Ty waited, knowing sometimes his husband just needed time to think everything through without him prodding for answers, despite how curious he was. The superstitions idea had been terrible (and Ty did eventually win that argument because no matter how much Zane didn’t believe in that stuff, he wanted the shop to blow up again even less) but most of the ideas Zane had were rather brilliant. Ty was often proud of how smart the man he loved really was.

“What about...scars?”

They both had more than their fair share of scars. Ty considered them mementos of a life well-lived but there were some he would prefer weren’t there at all. They represented some of the worst parts of their lives but they were also signs of how strong they both were, how much they’d survived. So, there were plenty of things for them to work with but he wasn’t sure what, exactly, Zane was getting at. “So, you want to paint over ours? Make them more prominent?” He supposed they could do that though it didn’t seem all that scary. It was just normal life for them, so he didn’t see the big deal. 

Shrugging, Zane went back to wiring the motion sensor for the sound system. “I was thinking about making them far more grotesque. A lot of monsters were once normal people before something terrible happened to them. We could try to be the in-between stage; when someone is still human but quite clearly about to become something else.”

That made more sense. Werewolves, vampires, even Zane’s beloved zombies started out as humans in most lore. It would be interesting to try what Zane suggested. 

“And you think that would be easier than just cutting up some shirts and making it look like we were the victims of some horrid crime?” Zane’s sad smile had Ty worried and he stepped closer, taking his husband’s hand. “What is it?”

“I’d prefer not to make you look like the victim of a terrible crime because that’s a little too close to our lives, don’t you think? It seems better to focus on the more supernatural side, the things I’m not going to wake up having nightmares about it actually happening to you.”

They rarely lied to each other, but stark honesty like that was fairly rare as well for them so Ty was briefly taken aback by Zane’s words. He nodded, not trusting himself to say more. If Zane didn’t want them to look like crime victims, then Ty wouldn’t argue. “So, supernatural it is. You thinking werewolves?”

Zane shook his head. “Don’t you think they would be better in animals? Besides fake fur sprouting from places would be frustrating to get on and off.”

“So...vampires?”

Ty sighed when Zane shook his head again, wishing his husband wasn’t dragging this out just to annoy him. That was his thing, damn it, and Ty wasn’t going to let Zane play that game better than him. “Vampires should either be in mythology or comparative religion. Do you know how many cultures have vampire myths? They appear in almost every mythology around the world in some manner or another, all developed independently.” 

Ty loved Zane’s knowledge for random information but right now, that wasn’t the point. “Means they must be real. We could put them in current events,” Ty suggested, just watch his husband’s eye twitch at the idea. Zane and belief didn’t really go hand in hand. “Okay, not werewolves and not vampires, so... No.”

“Yes.”

“No, Zane, absolutely not.”

“I’ve already talked to O’Flaherty about it. He thinks it’s a brilliant idea and I’m pretty sure Kelly agreed as well, so I think you are outnumbered.”

Ty sighed, praying for strength. This was supposed to be fun for _him_. How was Zane turning it into a ‘make Ty crazy’ sort of project? “One, those two assholes aren’t here so they don’t get a vote. Two, you and I both know Doc agreed to it just because he knew it would make me upset so even if O’s vote counted for anything - which it doesn’t - Kelly’s would automatically be disqualified.”

“Which still leaves it two to one. Come on, Ty. It will be fun.”

“You can dress up as a zombie all you want, but I won’t do it. Besides, what if someone comes to the back door? Do you want to deal with a baby CIA agent looking like that?”

Zane shrugged, unapologetic. “It would serve them right. Maybe they would get better just to avoid coming here.”

Ty had to admit, he had a point.

But Ty still wasn’t dressing up like a zombie.


	7. Left Field

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For better or worse, Nick offers some advice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Day 7 Prompt:** Left Field

When Ty started to drag corn stalks into the book store, Zane had to pause. While corn was a typical decoration for the fall, it seemed like an odd choice for both their indoor haunted house and the location Ty was putting it. But, they’d reached an uneasy truce when it came to the haunted house so Zane was willing to let this go a little longer before he really questioned anything.

He had to trust Ty knew what he was doing.

But on his eighth trip back into the store with yet another armful of corn stalks, Zane couldn’t hold it in any longer. “What are you doing, Meow Mix? The store isn’t nearly big enough to build a corn maze, in case that is what you were thinking.”

“I wasn’t before. I am now.” Ty winked at him but continued on, still not answering Zane’s question.

Zane watched for a minute longer as leaves and dirt and cornsilks began to litter the floor of his usually pristine bookstore. “Beaumont Tyler Grady, tell me what the hell it is you are doing?”

“Whoa, full name, Lone Star? It isn’t that bad. Really this is Nick’s fault. See, it went like this...”

~ ~ ~

“Irish, I need your help man.” Ty was getting fed up with Zane and his zombie obsessed ideas for the haunted house. And if his husband wasn’t going to listen to him, he’d call in reinforcements. “You need to stop filling Garrett’s head with ideas. He’s taking over.”

Nick had the audacity to laugh at him and Ty realized he’d made the wrong choice. If he needed someone with sense, Owen should have been his first choice. But he was used to Nick backing him up on things. Now that his best friend had alined against him with his husband...

“Stop laughing at me you asshole. This is your fault.”

“No it isn’t and you know it. Zane has all these ideas on his own. You’re yelling at the wrong person.”

Ty huffed, “Yes, but yelling at him means no sex. Yelling at you doesn’t cost me anything.”

Nick laughed at him again and Ty began to regret every decision that led him to this point. “Again, not my problem. I’m assuming this is about the zombies?”

They continued on like that for some time and Ty questioned everything about their friendship. “Fine,” he sighed, “then help me come up with something too. Because the whole store is going to be a tribute to The Walking Dead if he gets his way and there are more scary things out there than just his beloved undead.”

“Okay, fine. Just because I have nothing else to do today. What sections do you still need help with?”

Ty listed them off, which accounted for most of the store he realized when he was done. Maybe a couple of places with zombies wouldn’t be a terrible thing.

“Sports is perfect,” Nick was saying, pulling him out of his thoughts.

“Sports? If you say undead hockey players, I’m going to have to kill you.”

He could practically hear Nick shrug through the phone. “I’ll just come back. You know... zombie.”

“And then I would have to murder my best friend. Is that what you want? You want me to live with that trauma for the rest of my life?”

Nick chuckled, “If anyone is going to have to cut my head off to stop me from becoming one of the walking undead, you know I would want it to be you.”

“Aw, Irish, you say the nicest things.”

They both laughed before Nick continued on. “As I was saying, sports. Namely, baseball.”

To be fair, Ty wasn’t entirely sure what Nick was getting at but if it involved baseball, he was most likely in. “What about baseball? You want me to come up with something scary from America’s past time?”

“Yes, Six. Think about it. Surely there must be something terrifying in the sport. And if you do baseball, Garrett will have to agree. He knows how much you love the sport.”

That was true and Ty knew Zane would let him do whatever baseball-related idea he came up with, if for no other reason than Ty was mostly putting up with the zombies. “Okay, scary things in baseball. The designated hitter?”

Nick laughed and Ty could picture him rolling his eyes. “New York Yankees?”

“A pickle?”

“Bottom of the ninth, full count?”

“The Green Monster?”

“You’d better be talking about Boston’s left-field wall, Grady because if you are talking about that horrific thing the Phillies call their mascot, I’m disowning you.”

This time it was Ty’s turn to laugh. “Yes, I’m talking about the wall at Fenway. Give me some credit. Though, I don’t know how scary a green wall could be without all the context of the rest of the stadium.”

~ ~ ~

Zane was staring at him like he’d lost his mind by the time Ty finished the story, though that was a fairly common occurrence so it didn’t bother Ty nearly as much as it used to. “Doll, what does any of that have to do with corn?”

“The fact that you don’t know that makes me concerned that perhaps I married the wrong man,” Ty said with the sigh of a man who puts up with so much. Too much, really. “You really don’t understand the corn?”

He supposed he shouldn’t have been surprised. Zane knew him better than just about anyone but even Ty had to admit that there were twists and turns in his own head that even he couldn’t follow sometimes. “Field of Dreams, darlin’.”

Zane blinked. “But, Field of Dreams isn’t scary.”

“Really? The ghost of some man’s dead father walking out of the corn to play catch with him? I think that’s terrifying. If my dead father showed up and wanted to play catch, I would run as fast as possible in the other way.”

“That is probably a good thing considering your father isn’t dead.”

Ty’s sigh carried through the store. “Technicality, Zane. The point is, ghostly baseball players coming out of cornfields is scary, no matter how much Kevin Costner wants us to think otherwise.”

Taking the armful of corn out of Ty’s hands, Zane set it off to the side and gave him a kiss. “I would never have come up with that but alright, that works for me. Someday, doll, I will figure out how your mind works.”

“If you do,” Ty said, wrapping his arms around his husband’s waist, “will you explain it to me?”

“You’ll be the first to know.”


	8. Betrayed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ty never expected this betrayal, particularly from the ones he trusted most.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Day 8 Prompt:** Betrayed

“You can’t say I didn’t warn you.” 

Ty would have thrown something at Zane if it were under any other circumstances. As it was, Ty wasn’t sure his aim would be true enough to avoid collateral damage. “This has nothing to do with your warning and everything to do with the fact that I have been betrayed. I can’t believe that you would side with them against me.”

He was hurt. Of course, he was. This wasn’t how things were supposed to be and the fact that he was now dealing with this hurt. And it wasn’t exactly Zane’s fault, though right now it felt like it.

“It’s not like I had much of a choice, doll. They came to me, not the other way around. You know I wouldn’t have purposefully sought them out.”

Ty knew that. They weren’t Zane’s favorite and he wasn’t their favorite, which only made the fact that they were teaming up against him so much worse. “I just thought I might have a little support.”

Shaking his head, Zane was clearly biting his lip to stop from laughing at him which only made it worse. And that was before Ty considered the fact that Zane had a cat on each shoulder who were both looking at Ty with more contempt he’d ever seen on their adorable faces.

“It’s part of the plan, though. They need to wear the costumes!” Ty had found the perfect outfits for the cats. A scarecrow costume for Jiminy and a spider for Cricket. They would have been terrifying running around the shop in them. Or whatever the adorable equivalent of terrifying was. But they’d betrayed him, running to the one person who always gave them the cold shoulder.

Zane reached up to scratch Cricket under the chin and Ty could hear her purring from several feet away. “What does it tell you that they would rather run and hide with me then wear the costumes you picked out for them? It might be better to admit defeat.”

“But Zane,” Ty started. Hearing the whiny tone in his voice, Ty cut himself off and shook his head. “Fine, they don’t have to wear the costumes but you have to feed them tonight. The traitors deserve some kind of punishment.”

Chuckling, Zane plucked Jiminy off his shoulder and handed him to Ty. “Cuddle your furry thing, doll. They’re living creatures. They’re allowed an opinion on what they wear. If you tried to dress me in one of those, I would rather hide with Bell then even consider wearing it.”

“Seriously, darlin’, if I was the one dressing you for Halloween, there’d be far less clothes than this. And if you were hiding with Bell, you’d kill him within an hour and then need to find someplace to hide the body so you’d be calling me anyway. You act like I don’t know how you think, Garrett.” Ty rocked Jiminy in his arms like a baby, forgetting almost instantly that he was mad at his cat. 

Zane laughed as he took Cricket off his other shoulder and set her down to run off and play. “Ty, if you want to get me out of my clothes, just ask. And if you want me to kill Bell, you can ask that as well. But if you think I’m dressing up in a costume like a sexy... farmer, or whatever, you have another thing coming.”

Deep down, Ty knew getting any of them to dress up for Halloween was going to be a challenge. The cats were probably a lost cause. But Zane had liked the idea of dressing up a few days ago. Sure, it was as a zombie, but maybe he could be convinced otherwise. 

Or at least as a zombie who has lost most of his clothes. A half-naked Zane zombie wouldn’t be a terrible thing, Ty admitted in the privacy of his own head. He wouldn’t say it out loud, however. Some things were best left unsaid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter chapter tonight because I'm tired.


	9. Kidnapped

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The best-laid plans of Ty and Zane are thrown asunder by inept CIA agents.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Day 9 prompt:** Kidnapped

“When we find him, I’m going to kill him.” Despite running every morning, he panted each breath. It had been too long since they’d been in the field and he was out of practice. But, no matter how exhausting it was, it felt good too. Ty loved being in the field, chasing down the bad guys and hopefully getting to shoot one or two in the process. 

Or some of the good guys. At this point, Ty wasn’t picky.

Zane was keeping pace with him but Ty could see his husband was as tired as he was. Too much time in the bookshop and not enough time in the gym. “We’re supposed to be saving him, Meow Mix, not killing him.”

“Well, if they would train them properly at Langley, we wouldn’t be having to do this. I’d be doing the country a favor by getting rid of the weak links.” The baby CIA agents that often came through their house were generally terrible but managed to make it to the safe house so Ty gave them a modicum of respect. 

This one managed to disappear before ever showing up. Which meant Ty and Zane had to go find them before they wound up dead. Ty wanted to avoid paperwork. Zane wanted to avoid retraining from headquarters. Ty was insufferable the first time through. 

The last known location of the agent wasn’t far from the shop so instead of dispatching other agents to track them down, they called in Ty and Zane. They both jumped at the chance for some fieldwork but Ty was regretting it the longer it went on. 

“Do you know how much we still have to do?” he whined, hopping over a wall and waiting for his husband to join him. “Halloween is three weeks from today and we haven’t even finished a quarter of the shop. I was going to set up the rigging today before this moron went and got kidnapped. It would have taken me all day, now I’m going to have to work on it after the shop closes and that’s only if someone doesn’t get shot in the process.” Not that Ty had a problem with shooting people, per se, but he once thought the FBI forms for discharged firearms were bad. The FBI had nothing on the Agency. If Ty had to fill out those forms, nothing would get done in the shop until tomorrow at the earliest.

The forms probably wouldn’t get done either but that was another issue altogether. 

Zane sighed and joined him on the other side of the wall. “Doll, I don’t think now is the time to be worrying about that.”

“Then when is the time, Zane? Because this seems like the perfect time to be worrying about it. Our whole plan is going to fall apart due to some agent who doesn’t belong in the field. Now we have to risk life, limb, and haunted house to get them back.”

Ty led the way out of the alley and towards the last known location of the agent. He could hear Zane right behind and even if he couldn’t see his husband, Ty knew exactly what he was doing. “Stop rolling your eyes at me, Garrett.”

Zane laughed. “How do you know what I am doing?” 

“I have a sixth sense for when my partner is mocking me or humoring me.”

“Get that a lot from Sidewinder.”

“STOP LISTENING TO THEIR STORIES!”

Zane’s laughter only grew louder but he cut himself off when they turned the corner and found their agent. And three other people surrounding them. “Alright, how do you want to do this?” Zane whispered as they both pressed themselves against the wall to avoid being seen. “Three against two and we don’t know if the agent will turn on us as well.”

“We could shoot them, drag the agent back to the shop, and you could do all the paperwork while I get back to hanging the giant spider.” As far as Ty was concerned, it was the best possible plan. Judging by the look on his husband’s face, Zane did not agree.

Checking his weapon even though they both knew they kept them in perfect condition, Zane finally looked back up at Ty. Ty recognized the ‘figure out how to tell my husband he is an idiot without saying it out loud’ expression as he saw it far too often. “Let’s do this with minimal bloodshed. If things get out of hand, then go ahead and shoot them.”

It was a testament to Ty’s self-control that he didn’t let the surprise show on his face. Zane rarely gave him permission to shoot people anymore. This was looking more and more like Christmas and not some random Thursday in October. “It’s a deal.” Hopefully, it would be necessary. Ty didn’t appreciate having his day interrupted.

They met one another’s eyes and nodded once before taking off down the street, hoping to take the kidnappers (or whoever they were) by surprise. Zane punched one before he had a chance to even register what was happening and Ty tackled a second to the ground. The guy Zane punched went down immediately and having been on the receiving end of that right hook, Ty didn’t blame him. 

As Ty cuffed the guy he tackled and Zane turned to the third man, the third darted out of his way and pulled a gun on Zane. Ty saw red and pulled his own, shooting the man in the wrist before he could even get his weapon fully targeted. “Doll, what did we say about minimal bloodshed?”

“Sorry, darlin’, but I rather like you in one piece. If it was him or you, I’m choosing you every time.”

Zane kicked the knees out from the wounded man and cuffed him with no concern shown for the gaping wound in his forearm. “That’s one of the sweetest things you’ve ever said to me,” he drawled and Ty beamed back at him. 

While Zane called in the prisoners to their handler, giving their location and asking for someone to come pick them up, Ty turned to the agent who caused this whole mess. “So, what’s your excuse? Couldn’t make it four blocks to the safe house without getting into trouble.” Agents these days, he thought miserably to himself. The man didn’t even try and fight back. 

“Hey, I...”

“Save it,” Ty cut him off. He didn’t care about the excuses. The fact of the matter was, he couldn’t do his job and would probably be put on desk duty or let go from the agency. Ty didn’t envy him, but the man brought it on himself. “You’re coming with us. Once you check-in, Langley can send someone for you. If you decide to cooperate, that’s all that will happen. If you want to try and kick up a fuss, I am still looking for a corpse for one of my haunted house displays and I think you would be perfect.”

“Meow Mix, stop threatening the incompetent agent.”

The man tried to argue but Ty shook his head. “Nope, sorry, perspective corpses don’t get a say here. Now come on. I have a giant spider to introduce you to.”

“He’s crazy.” The agent looked at Zane as if expecting help from him. 

Zane, however, just smiled and nodded. “Yeah, he is. But if you survive, you get used to him. It’s kind of endearing after that.”

“And that is the sweetest thing _you’ve_ ever said to _me_.”

Zane gave him a kiss and then yanked the agent to his feet. “Come on, doll. A spider awaits.”


	10. Promise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Say what you will about Zane Garrett. He had Ty Grady wrapped around his little finger. Even if it didn't always appear that way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Day 10 Prompt:** Promise

Ty started moving around shelves, insisting that the flow of the store wasn’t conducive to the haunted house. “Zane, they shouldn’t have to backtrack under the spider again to get to the witches in the woods. If we just move these shelves forty-five degrees, we should be able to make one continuous path that winds all the way through the store.” 

After watching the whole process in horrified amusement, Zane opened and closed his mouth a few times, trying to find the right words. “That’s good for the haunted house. What about our customers? You know, the people who actually buy things from us?”

They didn’t really _need_ to sell anything. The CIA financed everything so even if they didn’t sell a book, it wouldn’t matter financially. But Zane loved the bookstore as much as Ty loved his cats, and he knew Zane would be upset if he had to give up the shop entirely for the whole month. “They’ll still be able to find everything. After all, they’ll have you to direct them to anything they need, right?”

Zane’s look softened a little and he smiled. “Yes, I will help them. But I need to be able to find them too. Just promise me one thing.”

“I already promised you forever, Lone Star. What more do you want?” Ty figured he knew what was coming and bit his lip to not smirk to hard. He loved his husband more than anything. Zane loved him just as much in return. Nothing would ever come between them again. 

That didn’t mean Ty couldn’t drive him crazy once in a while. Or all the time, depending on whose perspective it was.

If Zane knew Ty was prepared for the question, he didn’t show it. “Promise me you won't get carried away?” 

Ty smiled victoriously. He loved it when he read Zane properly. He shook his head. “I promise no such thing. You married me, darlin’. You knew what you were getting into.”

“Lord help me, I did.” Zane ran his hands through his hair, longer than it used to be. Ty loved that Zane left it long enough to curl a little around his ears and at his nape. He was a damn sexy man and every year he got even more so. “But still, can you please make an effort to keep some of the walkways clear? I don’t want to trip over possessed pumpkins every time I need to show Mrs. Whitaker where the cookbooks are.”

“Possessed pumpkins? That’s brilliant. We should put those on the shelves that don’t have other things so you still have something to look at when you are just in the book sections.” Ty knew exactly what that sentence would do to his husband and he grinned as he watched that muscle in Zane’s jaw flex as he attempted to get his annoyance under control. 

“Just in the book sections? Ty, this is a _bookstore_. There should only BE book sections.” He narrowed his eyes, catching on to Ty’s game, which only made Ty grin wider at him. “You know, you really are a huge pain in my ass.”

“I thought you liked it when I was a _huge_ pain in your _ass_.” Ty made sure to emphasize some specific words, doing his best to look innocent while he did it.

Zane almost laughed but caught himself just in time. “That’s it, I want a divorce.”

“Sorry, darlin’. I promised you forever and you promised me the same. You’re stuck with me now whether you like it or not.”

The sigh Zane gave was almost believable as he rolled his eyes to the heavens, looking for all the world like a man asking for strength. “I suppose I will just learn to deal with it. And if I am stuck with you, might as well make it worth my time.” Zane pulled Ty close and Ty wrapped his arms behind Zane’s neck, pressing their bodies together. 

“And how are you going to do that?” Ty practically purred against Zane’s lips.

Zane smirked, giving him a quick peck. “First you are going to put all those shelves back where you found them. Then we’re going to lock up and I promise you I will show you just how happy I am to have you forever.”

The shelves were back in their places before Zane could even finish locking the front door. 

Let it never be said that Zane Garrett didn’t know how to motivate Ty Grady when he wanted to.


	11. Won't Stop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ty's newest idea gives Zane a case of deja vu. And not the good kind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Day 11 Prompt:** [Won't Stop](https://youtu.be/7pGdCipD6XQ)
> 
> Particularly the lyric at the very beginning of the story.

_"My heart's broken, but it won't stop beating" _

Zane watched in silent amusement for over an hour while his husband worked up to whatever it was Ty wanted to say or ask. It wasn’t about work because Ty was always more than happy to talk about the black market orchids and back door deliveries. He wouldn’t hold back about that. If it was about the bookstore, then he would tell Zane right away because he knew how much it meant to him. It could be Sidewinder. Ty did occasionally try to shelter him from their more idiotic exploits. But that didn’t seem right either. 

There was really only one thing it could be if Zane really thought about it. The only thing Ty talked about for the last two weeks. 

This was haunted house related. And so Zane wasn’t going to push. Ty would tell him when he was ready.

Finally, Ty turned and stomped over to the desk, laying his hands on the counter while he looked Zane in the eye. Whatever this was about, it struck Zane that it might be a little more serious than the haunted house.

“Should we do a Poe area?” Or not. At least, Zane assumed Ty was talking about the haunted house. Otherwise, he was completely at a loss as to what his husband was going on about. 

But whatever it was, Edgar Allan Poe was completely out of the question and had been since they first got together. “We are NOT doing a Poe area. That’s final.” They didn’t even carry the books in the store. Occasionally an anthology would hold one of his stories but Zane didn't carry anything that had Poe’s name on the spine. 

And if the story in said-anthology was The Cask of Amontillado, then there was no way in hell it would ever get through the front doors. If Zane never heard about Poe again, it would be too soon. 

Of course, that was easier said than done because of the location of the store. Just like starlets in Los Angeles, everywhere you looked in their city, you saw Poe. 

Ty knew this and argued, “But Zane, we can’t ignore him forever because this is Baltimore.”

"But Ty, yes we can, because we nearly DIED.” 

The case brought them together. The case was what led to Zane having the man he loved in his life day in and day out. But the case was also the reason that they almost never had this. If he had been a few minutes later, if Ty hadn’t gotten them out of the basement and to help, if one little thing had gone differently, neither of them would be here today. It wasn’t something Zane liked to dwell on and it certainly wasn’t something he wanted to be reminded of every time he came to work for the rest of the month.

Honestly, it surprised him that Ty was even considering Ty arguably got it worse than him when it came to Heninger and his crimes. 

“Doll, do you really want to do a Poe theme for one of the areas?” he asked, wondering if Ty might have some ulterior motive behind it. It had been years now but they both still carried the scars of that assignment. 

Ty shrugged, as nonchalant as possible for him. “It’s Baltimore, Zane, and Poe is sort of expected for most spooky things in this town. If we don’t have something related to him, people will notice.”

To be honest, Zane didn’t care. People could notice all they wanted. People didn’t have to live through the nightmares and the withdrawals and the lights left on all night after Heninger was killed and they were both rescued. Let them live through having their lover buried alive and see how they feel about it afterward.

Zane shook his head to clear the thoughts and looked at Ty with a half-smile. “I don’t like it. But if you think it’s really that important, I’m sure there is something we can do that won’t give us both nightmares every night.”

For his part, Ty looked apologetic and let the idea drop. Zane knew him better than to think that Ty had forgotten about it so a day later when Ty had that terrifying grin that said he was up to no good, Zane could only brace himself for whatever was to come. 

“A scavenger hunt.” 

“A what now?”

Ty held out a piece of paper that had a list on it. Each item was easily recognizable as something from a Poe story. A raven. A beating heart. Wedding rings. A set of twins. Heninger had used several of them in his killings. “I’m going to hide cards with these things among the books on the shelves. They’ll stick out a little so people can see them without taking everything down in the process. If someone can collect all ten, then they win a prize.”

Zane considered this. The cards would be innocuous enough that they wouldn’t really bother him. They would encourage the people in the haunted house to look at the books on the shelves as well. And it would satisfy that strange Baltimore desire to have everything come back to Edgar Allan Poe in some way or another. “I think that is the best idea you’ve had all month. How many cards are you going to hide?”

“Ten of each prompt, so a hundred out in the store. At the end of the day, we can return them to new places and start all over again. It will be fun for them and minimal work for us.”

Grinning, Zane handed the paper back to Ty. “Beauty and brains. How did I get so lucky?”

“I’m not sure,” Ty said with a shrug. “I really am the total package. You should count your blessings.”

Zane couldn’t argue there. “I do. Every single day.”

Ty smacked his chest and turned to walk towards the back of the store. “I was being funny and you had to make it sappy. For that, you’re making dinner tonight.”

“I make dinner every night!”

“So it won’t be a challenge for you.”

Zane rolled his eyes and smiled fondly. Life with Ty Grady was never dull. And he wouldn’t have it any other way.


	12. Stabbed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone is out to get Ty. He's sure of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Day 12 Prompt:** Stabbed
> 
> Apologies for any feels this might bring up. I was going for light-hearted. You be the judge.

“GOD DAMN IT!” Zane looked up from the book he was reading while a few customers wandered through the store. He knew that voice anywhere and wondered what his husband was up to that would prompt him to be yelling in the middle of the day. Not that he didn’t do that. Zane had lived with Ty long enough to know all his idiosyncrasies. But they still caught him off guard on occasion.

He smiled at a little old lady looking at the shelf just in front of him. “Pardon me for a moment,” he told the scandalized grandma and hurried to find his husband and give him a piece of his mind. They’d agreed the haunted house wouldn’t interfere with the daily running of the bookstore and right now, Ty’s yelling was interfering.

“Doll, I swear to god, if you aren’t dying right now, you will be soon,” he grumbled, turning the corner to where Ty stood. “What are you doing, Ty?"

“This shelf is out to get me, Zane.” 

Zane sighed, not knowing what he was expecting. He gave Ty a patient, indulgent smile and asked as nicely as he could, “How can a shelf be out to get you?”

The narrowed eyes he received said that he hadn’t quite succeeded at ‘patient’ and ‘nice’. Oh well, Ty loved him for better or worse, right? “This book keeps falling on my head. The shelf is completely level. The book is completely level. There is no reason for it to keep falling and yet it has five times in the last hour.” Ty looked around, lowering his voice as if about to share a deep, dark secret with Zane. “What if the place really is haunted?”

Ty believed in all sorts of things that Zane gave little credence to. Superstitions and supernatural were things that affected a lot of what Ty did. Zane preferred to deal with the more logical and concrete. Maybe it was one of many ways they complimented each other. But Zane had learned a long time ago not to mock Ty when he used a specific tone of voice. 

The one he was using now.

“I’m sure it’s not haunted,” Zane said placatingly. The last thing he needed was for Ty to be afraid to come to the store every day. Zane would never get a moment’s peace if that was the case. 

Ty gestured at the shelf and then at his head several times, to the point that it was starting to look comical. “It’s Alston, Zane. He always used to throw things at me and now he’s figured out how to do it again.”

Scott Alston died trying to protect them from the cartel, right there in the store. It was hard the first year, the memories too strong and painful. Time had soothed them to something soft and fond. While they would always miss him, they thought more about the good times they had together rather than the reason he was no longer around.

When Zane opened his mouth to tell him that there was no way Scott had returned from beyond the grave to torment Ty, Zane found he couldn’t actually say that. If anyone could do it, it would be Alston, if only to piss off Ty. 

Seeing his hesitation, Ty pointed at him. “See! You know I’m right!”

“I know you’ve been working too hard and that maybe this whole haunted house thing has gone to your head. I’m fairly confident Scott has more interesting people to torment than the two of us.” Zane hoped, anyway. 

“You didn’t know him as well as I did. This was the exact sort of thing that fucker would do.”

He would. Alston would have been _delighted_ at the idea that he would come back from the dead to make Ty’s life a living hell. But that wasn’t what was going on here. Zane knew that and he hoped Ty knew that too. 

He sighed and shook his head. “You could take him when he was alive, doll. I think you can handle him now.” Just for Ty’s sake (or his own amusement, whichever), he said to the room at large, “I’m fond of his face, Scott. Aim for the back of his head if you need to hit him.” Then Zane turned on his heel and headed back to his book and the front counter, leaving Ty sputtering in his wake.

Zane knew exactly what was going on. If Ty hadn’t figured it out yet, that was his own problem. 

Ten minutes later, he heard another outburst from his husband. “Oh, that’s IT!” When an ominous thud followed, however, Zane got worried. 

By the time he got back there, Ty was back at work and a book was stabbed with his knife, pinned to the wall by Ty’s head. “Was that really necessary Ty?” Zane asked, flabbergasted. Now they would eat the cost of that book and Ty would need to repair the wall (since he made the damage in the first place). 

“Ask Alston. Not my fault.” Zane was immediately transported back to their life before they came out when they would sit around the office with the rest of the team on the days when there was nothing going on. All the good-natured teasing, the camaraderie, the happiness. Zane and Clancy having to stop Ty nd Scott from doing anything they would regret, to one another or with one another. 

Those were good times, the first time in Zane’s life he remembered having friends. 

But this wasn’t the result of any of them, living or dead, regardless of what Ty said. “It wasn’t Alston. Now, unstab that book and clean up your mess.” As Zane walked past, first the shelf and then the book on the wall, he chuckled to himself. 

_This Side of Paradise _by F. **Scott** Fitzgerald. He could almost believe that Alston was involved. If it wasn’t for the little furry tail sticking out from behind the other books on the shelf, and one paw outstretched to knock down another. 

No, this wasn’t supernatural. But he’d let Ty figure that out on his own.


	13. Bite Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An offhand quip leads to some fun in the kitchen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Day 13 Prompt:** Bite me

“I know you weren’t a fan of sexy costume idea but you, technically, were the one to suggest it first.” Zane blinked, trying to keep up with Ty’s train of thought that jumped the tracks more often than continuing in any form of a linear fashion. They were washing dishes after dinner, discussing the fact that the Sidewinder paintball trip was coming up the next month, when Ty abruptly changed the subject. 

He set down the plate in his hand, preparing to fight off whatever new argument Ty had. “I did. It was mostly about zombies and watching your reaction to the idea. I didn’t actually intend to dress up unless for some reason you agreed.” Ty hummed, lost in his thoughts. Whatever he was thinking about, Zane figured he wasn’t going to like it. “Don’t even think about it, Ty.”

“Think about what?” How the man could even attempt to look innocent was beyond Zane and yet, he almost pulled it off. 

“Whatever it is you are thinking about. You have good ideas on occasion but... just no.”

Growling under his breath, Ty threw the towel on the counter. “Oh, bite me, Garrett.”

Now, Ty Grady was gorgeous most of the time. He still took Zane’s breath away, even after all these years. But a pissed off Ty Grady got Zane’s heart racing more than almost anything else.

Zane turned to look at Ty and he could see the moment Ty realized exactly what was going through his mind. His eyes went wide as Zane advanced on him, pinning Ty to the wall in their kitchen with a hand on both sides of Ty’s head. “Bite you, huh? I didn’t think you were into that sort of thing.”

Ty swallowed audibly but managed his trademark smirk. “You going vampire on me, Garrett?”

It was the last thing he said before Zane closed the distance between them, kissing Ty with love and frustration and annoyance and every other emotion his husband inspired in Zane. He kissed down Ty’s jaw and Ty tipped his head back, thumping it against the wall as he offered more access to his neck. 

Grinning against Ty’s skin, Zane bit down, relishing the way Ty cried out as he did so. Ty thrust his hips forward, grinding their hardening lengths together. “Like that, do you, doll?” It was quite clear that he did so Zane repeated the action at the junction between neck and shoulder. 

“Lube?” Ty gasped, gripping Zane’s hips and pulling him tight against him. It was all Zane could do not to laugh at the fact that not even five minutes before they’d been innocently doing dishes and now Ty was demanding lube. But while the lube was only a few feet away, Zane didn’t even want to break apart for that long.

He dropped to his knees, nosing along the bulge in Ty’s jeans. Even through the thick fabric, the warm smell of musk from his body assaulted his senses and Zane’s cock twitched within its own confines. He pulled the zipper down, popping open the button, before pulling Ty’s length from his pants. 

Ty’s fingers curled against the wall, searching for a grip on the smooth surface. When Zane’s tongue came out to lick gently along the length, teasing Ty as best he could, Zane heard Ty’s nails scratch at the paint. 

Looking up at his husband, Zane let Ty’s cock slip between his lips, keeping his eyes locked on Ty’s the whole time. Ty groaned, struggling to keep his own eyes open and eventually losing the battle. 

When Ty’s eyes slipped closed, Zane slid his lips down the whole length of Ty’s cock, feeling the head nudge against the back of his throat. To think there was once a time when he didn’t want to do this. Now Zane was happy being on his knees for Ty whenever he had the chance. 

Ty’s hands tangled in Zane’s hair and he thrust forward into the welcoming heat. Zane relaxed his throat, taking Ty as deep as he could. Even lost in the throes of pleasure, Ty knew Zane’s limits and didn’t push him any farther than he could go. 

With the haunted house plans, they didn’t have as much time for this as they usually did, so Zane worried this would be over before he wanted. So when Ty’s breathing became more strained and his hips stuttered slightly against his lips, Zane pulled off and sat back on his heels staring up at Ty. 

“Garrett, what the hell? Why’d you stop?”

Zane ran his hands up and down Ty’s thighs before gripping the waistband of his jeans and pulling them down to Ty’s knees. He rose back up, acting like he was going to use his mouth on Ty again, but turned his head at the last second. Ty’s cock brushed against his cheek as Zane pressed a soft kiss to his husband’s hip, followed immediately by a sharp bite. 

Ty gave a half-moan, half-cry and Zane smirked, moving to copy the action on the other side. Only then did Zane return to where he started, swallowing Ty down in one go. With a couple thrusts, Ty was coming down his throat, Zane swallowing everything as he did. 

He helped Ty slide down to the ground as his knees gave out under him and kissed the lazy smile on Ty’s face. “Give me a second and I’ll return the favor,” Ty mumbled, resting his head on Zane’s shoulder.

“No need, doll. I’m sure you can make it up to me later.” 

Ty started to argue but Zane cut him off with a kiss. He really didn’t mind waiting and they were both getting too old for a tumble on the kitchen floor. When Zane pointed that out to Ty, his husband pushed him away with a laughing, “Bite me.”

“No, I think it’s your turn next time.”

Ty didn’t disagree.


	14. Dear God

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zane has done his research. Ty just can't do it anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Day 14 Prompt:** [Dear God](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzX0rhF8buo)
> 
> (Literally only used the title of the song because this was supposed to go a completely different way and then Zane had his own ideas)

Zane had his plan and he knew it was going to work. He spent the whole day he sat at the front counter writing it up, checking it, writing it again until it was perfect. It had bullet points, damn it! If this didn’t convince Ty, nothing would.

He refused to acknowledge the fact that Ty rarely followed logic and reason because that would just end up with Zane questioning every decision that led to this moment in his life and he didn’t have time for that kind of introspection.

But really, bullet points! Footnotes! Corroborating statements! He would have put a graph if he had the paper to draw it up. 

The next time Ty walked past, Zane slid the plain manila folder across the counter to him. “A proposal for you to look over.” 

Ty glanced at the folder, then the back door, then back at the folder. Zane knew exactly what he was thinking, that this had something to do with their ‘side-job’ and he decided not to clear up that misconception just yet. If Ty thought it was CIA related, he’d read it right away. With only an hour left of work, time was of the essence if they were to accomplish what Zane wanted to do.

With customers in the store, Ty said nothing, simply nodded and took the folder, slipping through the door to the backroom where Zane could see him on the CCTV sit down and immediately start paging through the documents. 

He could also see the moment Ty realized exactly what it was he was reading, mostly because Ty flipped off the camera without looking up from the papers. 

Chuckling to himself, Zane went back to work, knowing that he’d be hearing about it sooner rather than later. 

“Really, Lone Star? Was the written testimonial from Nick really necessary? And the citations from Digger on the creole history of it was a bit much, don’t you think? I did not need to know the etymology of the word.” Zane patiently set down his book and marked his page with a scrap of paper when Ty slammed the folder down in front of him. “I love you, I really do but sometimes...”

“Sometimes what, Ty?”

“Sometimes you drive me up the wall, that’s what?”

Zane chuckled and shrugged. “Now you know how I feel all the time, babe.”

“Haha, very funny. Why did you feel the need to do this?”

The honest answer was that he was bored and he knew it would annoy Ty, but Zane couldn’t very well admit that out loud, even if they both knew it was true. Instead, he said, “Because you have been very dismissive of the zombie idea from the start and I really think you need to reevaluate it.”

“Dear God, really? Fine, if I agree to zombies, will you finally let this drop.”

Smiling innocently, Zane nodded. “Absolutely.”

“Okay, fine, go at it. I’m sure O will come down and help you if you want.”

Zane smirked once more. “He’ll be here Saturday.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you know the word 'zombie' comes from the Creole word 'zonbi'? Now you do.


	15. Future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On his birthday, Zane looks back and forward. And tries not to eat anything Ty made for him in the kitchen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Day 15 prompt:** Future
> 
> Also, happy birthday Zane Garrett!!!

Waking to the smell of coffee, Zane blinked rapidly, trying to clear the cobwebs from his head. He made the coffee every morning, so unless he sleepwalked his way through the process before climbing back into bed, something was amiss. When he rolled over to ask Ty what was going on, he was met with only an empty bed and rapidly cooling sheets. 

He groaned, throwing an arm over his eyes as he waited for wakefulness to return completely. If Ty was up and he was smelling coffee, there was only one explanation. Zane was going to have to suffer through the day with some of the world’s most awful brew. Ty tried but as one who didn’t drink the stuff, he didn’t know what the hell he was doing. He’d been banned from ever using the coffee maker but that didn’t seem to stop him. It was one of many reasons that Zane got up before his husband most days of the week. (The other days, they got up together after enjoying some _quality time_ in bed.)

Zane pushed himself out of bed and pulled on the pajama bottoms they’d discarded on their way to bed the night before, before heading for the kitchen to see what kind of mess his husband made. 

In the kitchen, Ty was cursing under his breath, not paying any attention to Zane as he entered the room. Zane knew better than to think Ty didn’t know he was there, only that Ty deemed him not a threat. Which was endearing in its own way. “Doll, what are you doing?” He took in the bowls that littered the counter, the thin layer of what Zane supposed was flour covering the floor, and the coffee percolating away in the pot.

Ty offered him the warmest smile he could and Zane briefly entertained the idea of just dragging him back to bed and forgetting about this mess for a few minutes. “Happy Birthday, darlin’!”

It took a moment for Zane’s sleep-addled mind to catch up. Somehow, in the chaos of work and _work_ and the haunted house, Zane forgot all about his own birthday. Ty, however, had not. 

“I’m making pancakes. Or trying to. I don’t think they look all that great but the next batch will be perfect.” A glance at the garbage bin next to Ty told Zane that this was not the first batch either. “But coffee is ready and I did manage to slice up some fruit.”

For all Zane liked to tease him, Ty wasn’t a complete disaster in the kitchen most of the time. He could make dinner most nights if Zane got caught up in the store and often made them lunch before coming down in the morning. But breakfast was Ty’s kryptonite. One of these days, Zane would drag his husband back to West Virginia and Mara could teach both of them how to make breakfast, as hers were the best Zane ever had. 

“That’s really not necessary. I appreciate the thought, though.”

Ty pouted in a way that should be unbecoming on a man his age but just made Zane’s heart beat in double time. “I want to do something nice for my husband. Let me have this.”

And how could Zane say no to that? He’d choke down any amount of terrible coffee and pancakes that were somehow both burned and raw if it made Ty happy.

Zane poured himself a cup of coffee and grabbed Ty an energy drink, setting it next to him before sitting down at the small table. “Fifty-three,” he mused quietly, sipping his coffee and fighting to maintain a straight face. “Never thought I would live to be this old.”

They avoided talking about Zane’s past most of the time, ever since it came back to try to kill them. Literally. But sometimes, it didn’t feel quite as bad to think about it. “What did you imagine was going to happen?” Ty asked as he poured more batter into the pan. “Back then, back before New York and everything?”

Frowning, Zane looked down into the frankly horrible coffee and thought back to the man he was. “I was going to work until I died. Whether it was drugs, alcohol, or just getting killed in the line of duty, it didn’t really matter. I couldn’t imagine a future I wanted to live. I just...existed. That’s what I was doing when I met you. Existing.” How Ty had looked at the broken man he was and fallen in love with him, Zane would never understand but he was thankful for it every single day.

“And now?” Ty was frowning at the pancakes as he prompted Zane and the scent of burnt flour now hung in the air. Zane smiled fondly, not even minding the fact that they would probably need to spend the evening cleaning up after Ty’s breakfast adventure.

Zane thought about that, trying to come up with the right words. “Now I look forward to getting up every day. Even if we are just working in the store. Even if you are driving me crazy with all your insane ideas, like building a haunted house in the middle of a CIA front shop. Even if you are attempting to burn down the kitchen by cooking something you know you don’t know how to make. Now I am excited about the future rather than dreading it.”

Ty grinned briefly, though it slipped back to a frown when he looked at the pan. He flipped the pancakes into the trash. “I love you, you know that Lone Star.”

“Yes I do, Meow Mix,” Zane replied instantly. “As much as I love you.”

Ty turned off the stove and spun to look at him. “Glad to hear it. So on our way to get breakfast there, I can tell you about my new idea for the haunted house.”

With a groan, Zane pushed the coffee away and thumped his head on the dining room table. “One day, Grady. You couldn’t even give me one day?” He paused before adding, “Not even one hour!”

Ty laughed and turned off the stove. Coming up behind Zane, he wrapped his arms around Zane’s broad shoulders. “Remember, you just said you love me.”

“God help me, I do,” Zane grumbled, though there was no heat to the words. 

“Happy birthday, Garrett. Let’s go get you something edible for breakfast.”

Zane nodded and stood, turning to wrap his arms around his husband. “And coffee. I desperately need real coffee.” He pressed a quick kiss to Ty’s lips the made his way back to their bedroom to dress, laughing when Ty called after him, “What do you mean real coffee? What’s wrong with the coffee I made you? Answer me, Garrett!”

Yes, with that man by his side, Zane knew his future would be full of life and color for as long as they both shall live.


	16. Pieces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A quiet Ty was a Ty that was up to no good. Zane knew that better than anyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Day 16 prompt:** [Pieces](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O11UikJigxo)
> 
> Particularly the verse at the beginning of the fic.

_"Run away, run away if you can't speak." _

“We have to do this!” 

When Ty volunteered to work the front counter in the shop, Zane knew he should be worried. But he had so much to do with invoices and orders that he was simply relieved to have a few hours to sit in the office and crunch all the necessary numbers. It had been relaxing for the first ninety minutes or so but the longer the silence in the store went on, the more concerned Zane became. 

Because a quiet Ty was a Ty that was up to no good.

By the time they reached the two-hour mark, Zane’s nerves were at the breaking point, so Ty’s exclamation had him out of his seat and grabbing for his gun before he realized what Ty actually said.

With a heavy sigh, Zane put away his weapon and all his paperwork before making his way to Ty at the front of the store, trepidation slowing his every step. “Did you say something, Ty?” he asked, both of them knowing full well that Zane already knew the answer to that question. 

“Yes!” Ty exclaimed, ignoring the pointlessness of Zane’s question. “We need to do this. Look.”

Ty had been doing something on the computer all morning. Zane liked to believe it was work-related but it seemed unlikely, particularly now that he was so excited. Bookshop work rarely got Ty this flustered and bouncy. 

Coming to stand behind Ty, Zane rested a hand on his husband’s shoulder when he leaned over to see what Ty had on the screen. Ty scrolled through picture after picture of people they didn’t know; individuals, groups, couples, families. They were all in various states of terror which was the only reason Zane didn’t believe these were CIA surveillance photos. Generally, those tended to be very dull. Until they weren’t.

Besides, all the pictures were taken from the exact same place and everyone was staring at something in the distance, nobody even noticing the camera let alone looking at it. 

“So...explain to me what I’m looking at,” Zane said eventually because while some of the pictures were admittedly very funny, Zane didn’t know what Ty was trying to get at by showing them to him. 

Stopping on one group where a teenage boy had jumped into the arms of another and they were both screaming as if their lives depended on it, Ty pointed at the screen. “They do this at a lot of haunted houses. Set up a secret camera and then take a picture when someone jumps out at the people. You get all sorts of great reactions like this. People can buy their pictures at the end or we can just email it to them. Whatever works. We should do it.”

Zane couldn’t really see a problem with the picture. The shop would be decorated enough to be unrecognizable so no one could track them through that. It would be entertaining both for Ty and Zane and the people going through the house. They’d probably need to set up metal detectors somehow to avoid any accidental shootings. 

Though, if he was honest, Ty was probably more likely to shoot someone than any of their customers.

“If Sidewinder comes through, you’re the one who has to disarm them.” Zane didn’t know if Ty even told the rest of them about the haunted house but he already knew Nick and Kelly would be down at some point and if he knew anything about the other two, they’d fly in the moment they heard about it. And the last thing they needed to deal with was a dead body in their CIA safehouse because a member of Sidewinder got a bit jumpy.

Ty laughed, “You think they’re going to listen to me? Ever since Miami, whenever I tell them to do something they mock me. ‘_I’m not your Six anymore_.’ Why did I ever say those words? Now they’re all insubordinate, all the time.”

“And that’s different than usual how?” Ty elbowed him in the ribs and Zane laughed in response. He knew when it was important, Sidewinder was the best there was. But the rest of the time, they were a walking disaster or a ticking time bomb of idiocy.

Zane pulled up a chair, invested now that Ty had his attention. “So, the idea is to find a scary part of the haunted house and set up the camera so we can catch their reactions. Is that right?”

“Exactly. I mean, look at these.” Ty pointed to a picture of a whole family where everyone looked a little scared but the dad was screaming in absolute terror. “This is where you find out what kind of people you’re friends with. I mean, we all know you’d be the one screaming there.”

Rolling his eyes, Zane shook his head. “You’re the one who believes in that stuff, doll. Out of the two of us, it would be you screaming, not me.” He pointedly ignored Ty’s annoyed huff and looked back at the pictures. “Look at that guy.” Ty pulled up the picture he was pointing at and they both had a good laugh at the man standing in the group of his scared friends staring stoically like he was waiting for the bus.

“Kelly,” they said in unison, drawing a laugh from them both.

The rest of the afternoon passed quickly as they went through the pictures, announcing them to be different people they knew. The man trying to run away was Liam (_he’d do anything to save his own skin_). The one smiling with an almost unholy glee was Digger (_he’d be looking to join in on whatever was freaking everyone out_). The man holding three of his friends up as they all clung to him was clearly Nick (_and he’d feel guilty for not holding up the fourth as well_).

“And Owen?” Zane asked when they got to the end. 

Ty thought for a long moment before saying, “He’d be the one taking the pictures. Which reminds me, I’ll call him and see if he can rig something for us. If it’s okay with you.”

He didn’t even have to think about it. Zane nodded immediately. So far, this was probably the best of Ty’s ideas for the house and Zane truly looked forward to seeing the results. “You go call Johns, I’ll finish balancing the books, and then we can go get some dinner. Deal?”

Ty kissed him then grabbed his phone and headed for the stairs to their apartment. Zane watched him go with a fond smile. He really did love that man so much. He’d never understand how he got that lucky but he would never question it either. Sometimes it was best just to leave some questions unspoken.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, how did I get from that song to this fic, you might be asking? I'm not entirely sure. Something about the "Run away, run away" started me down this path and then there was no turning back. Just go with it. It's a painful song and this is much less painful than anything else I thought of.


	17. Secret

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How does one scare Sidewinder? Is it even possible?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Day 17 Prompt:** Secret

“So, if we go with the camera idea, we’re going to need something scary enough to get that kind of reaction.” Ty worked on a part from the Mustang that he wasn’t living up to its potential, or at least what he believed to be his potential, while Zane read his book. Ty looked up, surprised that his husband was instigating a conversation about the haunted house, though he thought Zane was just as excited about it as he was. Zane just held his cards closer to his chest. “None of the stuff we have yet is really all that scary.”

Ty opened his mouth to argue that it was, but Zane held up his hand to stop him. “I’m not saying it isn’t scary at all but it also isn’t going to cause most people to scream or jump or run. We’ll need something bigger for that.”

As loathe as Ty was to admit it, Zane was right. What they had now wasn’t enough. They needed something terrifying. Something that would scare the hardest Marine. “If we can come up with something that would scare O, then we would probably be good.”

They fell silent, both of them thinking about what they could do that would scare O’Flaherty. “He’ll see anything we do coming a mile away. So maybe the key is to distract him and then hit them when they’re least expecting it.”

“But don’t actually hit them,” Ty pointed out. “Unless you want to end up dead. Then, by all means, go ahead and try.”

Zane snickered at that and went back to his book, though Ty could see the gears still working in his head. When it became clear Zane wasn’t going to offer any other ideas immediately, Ty went back to the carburetor he was working on. 

After twenty minutes, Zane spoke up again. “Maybe it needs to be in a secret room? A back area where only the people who want to be terrified would go? If we are doing something that can scare Sidewinder, the average citizen isn’t going to want to be part of it, I wouldn’t think.”

After the things they’d seen and done, Ty knew he was right. The things that frightened Sidewinder were few and far between, and absolutely horrifying. “Probably not a bad idea. We can barricade off the back part of the shop where the chairs are and put up signs with a warning.”

Zane nodded. “That sounds good. But do you think we can scare them? Would a jump scare do anything to a Recon Marine? Or are we just going to be out of luck here, even if we do attempt to distract them?”

“There’s not a lot that will scare them and there is a good chance this is going to be an utter failure. I mean, I’m not sure a jump scare would do anything for me.”

Right as Ty spoke, something sharp bit into the back of his neck and he jumped up, screaming as he tried to get it off (though he planned on denying _that_ fact until his dying day). When he turned around, Zane was laughing so hard he had tears in his eyes and Cricket stood on the back of Ty’s chair, looking hurt that he’d moved away so quickly. 

“You were saying, doll?”

Ty scooped his cat into his arms and held her close while glaring at his husband. “Shut up.”


	18. Insomnia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zane can't sleep so neither can Ty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Day 18 Prompt:** Insomnia
> 
> The fluff. My god...the _fluff_

Waking up to an empty bed was something Ty was familiar with. Despite being mostly retired, Zane couldn’t seem to get out of the habit of rising with the sun. Whether that was due to his upbringing on a ranch or his innate workaholic tendencies, Ty didn’t know. He could occasionally lure Zane back in but most of the time, Ty just rolled out of bed and went to find him. 

But that was usually around six or seven in the morning. Not three. Three was a weird time for Zane to be up, no matter the excuse. 

Frowning, Ty pulled on a t-shirt as he padded out to the kitchen, wondering if Zane just needed a snack or water or something. He was slightly disturbed to find Zane wasn’t there. Nor was he in the bathroom, the living room, or the little makeshift office they’d set up in their apartment for when they were too lazy to go back downstairs. 

If it had been a delivery, Zane would have gotten Ty up as well. Surely he would have heard something if there was actually a problem but Ty’s concerns overrode any logic that might apply to the situation. He grabbed one of the guns they kept hidden around the house for emergencies and made his way down to the shop. 

He could hear the movement in the shop before he got there, and Ty cocked his gun, ready to maim or kill anyone who hurt his husband. Turning the corner, Ty lowered the weapon immediately as he took in the scene in front of him. 

Ty knew Zane liked the idea of the haunted house in the abstract. It would bring in customers. It would keep Ty busy. It might be a little fun. But other than offering an annoying suggestion now and then, Ty thought Zane really hadn’t seemed all that invested in the process. 

It turned out, Ty _could_ be wrong on occasion. 

Wearing jeans that clung beautifully to his ass and a henley that showed off his toned physique, Zane was a vision in the mostly darkened bookshop. The fact that he was whistling quietly to himself as he worked, only endeared him further to Ty who leaned against the wall to watch his husband. It was so rare to see Zane this relaxed and carefree. None of the masks Ty saw him wear over the years were present and it was just _Zane_.

Zane, the man he fell in love with. 

Zane, the man who saved him so many times. 

Zane, the man who gave him the strength to keep going, even when things felt hopeless. 

Zane, who was everything to Ty. 

Ty smiled to himself, his heart full of love and affection as he saw Zane stretch up to hang plastic UFOs from the low rafters in the sci-fi section of the shop.

For ten minutes, Ty stood there, not caring about the late hour or anything but the fact that is husband was down here in the middle of the night working on something he knew was important to Ty. Had anyone ever loved him like this? There was no one in the world like Zane and some way, somehow, Zane had fallen in love with him. 

He knew Zane knew he was there. You didn’t work in the FBI and CIA as long as they had without developing some finely tuned instincts for when you were being watched. But Zane also knew it was Ty, knew he was no threat and was probably enjoying putting on the little show as it were.

Eventually, Zane turned around and smiled at him, that warm open smile that only Ty ever got to see. “Meow Mix. Why are you up?”

“Bed was cold and I thought someone abducted my husband while I slept.” They could joke about it now but them disappearing had been a big fear for them both early on in their relationship.

Zane looked up at the cartoonish space ships above his head. “Aliens?” he teased. 

Ty nodded eagerly, “Aliens. The kind that do all sorts of probes and things. Really unpleasant stuff. Wouldn’t have been fun and then I would have to find a new husband and it would be a giant hassle.

“More of a hassle than getting probed by aliens?” Zane’s brow quirked and Ty bit back a laugh. 

He wanted to return with some witty comeback but his brain wasn’t fully functional yet. Sure, in the Corps he could work with very little sleep but that was a long time ago and he’d grown comfortable with this suburban, sleeping in with his husband, occasionally chasing down terrorists or CIA agents lifestyle of theirs. “I... I’ll have something for you in about three hours,” he mumbled when it became clear Zane was waiting for him to say something. “Still too early to think properly.” Stepping into the room finally, Ty pulled his husband into a hug, soaking up the warmth that had been missing in their bed. “Why are you up? This is early, even for you.”

“Couldn’t sleep. Thought about waking you up but you looked comfortable so I decided to come down here and get some work done. Better than just laying there hoping I’ll go back to sleep.”

Ty nodded, looking at the dark circles under Zane’s eyes. They both had nightmares still, and the occasional bout of insomnia wasn’t unheard of. “The place looks great. You’ve done a lot.” He really had. Ty didn’t want to think about how long Zane had been down here working while Ty slept soundly upstairs. 

“I thought if I got some of this done, maybe we could close the shop early and go out tomorrow before O’Flaherty and Doc get here.”

Ty smiled, “I’d like that.” They’d probably just end up down at the pub, playing darts and eating fried food but it would be fun all the same. “But first, I think you should come back to bed. You’ve done enough tonight.” Zane opened his mouth to argue and Ty shook his head. “If you can’t sleep, that’s fine. I’m sure we can find some other way to pass the time while laying down.”

He grinned as Zane’s eyes darkened and stepped back, taking his husband’s hand. Zane practically pulled him towards the door. “I am sorry if I woke you up.”

“Don’t apologize for that, Lone Star. I think it’s going to be well worth the lost sleep.”

Zane smirked at him over his shoulder. “I’ll make sure of it.”


	19. Cemetery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nick and Zane get to work. Ty and Kelly bemoan that fact.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Day 19 Prompt:** Cemetery

When Zane and Nick met, Ty worried they would never get along. Understandable considering the rocky start they had. But Ty wanted his best friend and his lover to get along. They were two of the most important people in his life and Ty couldn’t imagine living without either of them. 

Now? Now he worried they got along better with each other than with him. He knew logically that they both loved him in their own way and their friendship was mostly based on that. But there were things the two of them liked that Ty had no interest in. He didn’t think that was enough for them to start excluding him but Ty worried all the same. 

“O’Flaherty will be here in an hour,” Zane called from the bathroom where he was brushing his teeth. “He and Doc are going to pick up food for us before they come by.” 

Ty frowned, looking at his phone which stayed silent. “Why did he tell you this and not me?”

“Because we were texting about our plans so I was probably the one at the top of the list.”

His frown growing more pronounced, Ty grumbled about their _plans_. It was the reason the other two were coming down from Boston for the weekend. Nick and Zane had been texting for almost a week now, planning on taking over one section of the open house. Kelly was just along for the ride and Ty could only shake his head and hope they didn’t go overboard. 

When Nick and Kelly arrived, they all sat around eating their food and catching up. While Nick and Ty texted every day, there were still things they never managed to tell one another in those conversations. They talked abstractly about Ty and Zane’s ‘side job’ as well as what Nick and Kelly were up to with Nick’s ‘family’. Things none of them would ever want put into writing. 

But as soon as they were both finished eating, Nick and Zane were off, heading to the section Zane cordoned off as ‘theirs’. Ty watched them go with a huff, flopping back in his seat as he glared holes in both their backs. 

“Infuriating, aren’t they?” Kelly asked through a mouthful of French fries. “If I have to head about zombies one more time, I might murder him myself. Then he can become one and live a long and happy undead life. I can murder Zane too if you like.”

Ty chuckled, though he knew there was a slight undercurrent of truth in Kelly’s words. He doubted that Kelly would actually kill either of them but Doc was a bit wrong in the head (though, which one of them wasn’t?). There was no telling what he would or wouldn’t do. “Nah, I like him alive, thanks. If he got too bitey, I’d be annoyed and that would be terrible for our relationship.”

“I don’t know. I like it when Nick is bitey.”

Covering his ears with his hands, Ty yelled, “LA LA LA I CAN’T HEAR YOU!”

Kelly’s peals of laughter echoed through the store and soon enough, Ty joined in with him. “They really are ridiculous, aren’t they?” Kelly asked when they’d both calmed down. 

“I would say you have no idea but you are probably the only one who does.” Ty loved Zane, and that meant quirks and all. It didn’t mean he had to get excited about the zombie movies Zane liked to watch. “The zombie bromance between them was not something I ever expected.”

“But you love it, don’t you?” Kelly asked sincerely. “You whine and complain but deep down, you are thrilled that the two of them get along as well as they do.”

He was. Ty couldn’t be happier that they got along. He found the ‘zombie bromance’ as he called it endearing. “Yeah, you’re right. But don’t tell them that.”

“Dude, I think they already know. I don’t think either of them would flaunt their friendship if they thought it upset you. They have too much respect for you to do that.” 

And that was one of the reasons Ty loved them. They’d reach the stage in both of those relationships that Ty knew neither man would do anything to hurt him. And he would never do anything to hurt them either. He didn’t say anything, just smiled slightly and nodded. 

Kelly pushed himself to his feet. “Should we go see what kind of destruction they’re causing? Because you know they’re going to be putting everything just off-center to bother you.”

“I know,” Ty growled. He loved them. It didn’t mean they weren’t both assholes. He followed Kelly to the back of the shop, Nick and Zane’s voices carrying through the shelves. They turned the corner to find that they’d pushed the shelves back (slightly off-center because...fuckers) and were both kneeling on the floor, securing items so they wouldn’t fall over. 

“Is that a cemetery?” Ty asked. They were surrounded by different tombstones with ridiculous pun names on them. Ty wanted to roll his eyes at them and call them idiots but he was too damn endeared to do anything but grin. 

Zane looked at him over his shoulder, returning the grin with one of his own. “Obviously. The dead need to come from somewhere and this is the most logical place. We’re thinking of putting a smoke machine so it looks like a creepy fog rolling through. We’re going to have zombie hands that reach up and grab at people’s ankles.” He held up a fake hand and waved it around before going back to the tombstone that read _I told you I was sick_. 

“And how are you going to do that? That seems like a lot more work than you wanted to put in. Did Owen develop something for you?”

Nick tossed another hand at Ty who caught it and realized it was hollow. “Someone is going to sit behind the shelves and grab them as they walk by. About as low-fi as you can get, Six. And if they occasionally make zombie noises or random screams, all the better.” At that, both Nick and Zane started groaning like they were already the walking dead. 

“You’re both idiots, you know that?” Ty said with a laugh, rolling his eyes as he threw the hand back at Nick’s head. 

“Yes,” Zane nodded, catching the hand before it hit Nick. “But you love us anyway.” 

“I do.” Ty gave them both a fond smile. “I really do.”


	20. Roleplaying

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Did you have fun, Beaumont?"
> 
> "That's not my name."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Day 20 prompt:** Roleplaying

“You never played when you were a kid?” Zane stood next to Ty, both of them looking at the group of five kids who were making themselves comfortable in the children’s section, setting up for their weekly Dungeons and Dragons game. Ty had never seen anything like it so when Zane asked, Ty just shook his head.

He glanced at his husband, putting on the best sneer he could manage. “Do I look like someone who spent his teenage years playing role playing games? I was out of the house almost every night.”

“Yes, and so are they,” Zane said patiently and Ty realized Zane was only trying to rile him up.

With a sigh, Ty calmed himself so as to not give Zane the pleasure of winning. “Between all my sports, I didn’t really have time to do anything else. And the friends I did have wouldn’t have been interested in such a thing.”

“I bet you would have been good at them.” 

Ty glanced at his husband, trying to gauge if Zane was mocking him or if he really believed that. He seemed sincere enough, so Ty shrugged. “Maybe. But I’m too old now so no point in worrying about it. I prefer to look forward, Lone Star, not back.”

Zane dropped it and went back to the order he was working on. Ty considered the matter closed and went to the back to check on the status of the package they were expecting that evening. Not that he had much to do until he showed up but Ty hated to be bored. 

By the time he made his way back out to the front, the kids were just about to start their game. Zane was still at the counter looking like he hadn’t moved. He probably hadn’t, Ty figured. When he got busy with numbers, he was lost to the world until he remembered to come up for air.

“Hey! Ty!” one of the kids called, waving Ty down from across the shop. The boy couldn’t have been more than thirteen but was clearly the leader of the group. Ty got to know him over the weeks, since the first time he came in and asked politely if they could use the shop for their game days. Ty hadn’t even questioned why they chose Brick & Mortar, just agreed immediately. Later on, he and Zane realize that most of the kids were definitely LGBT and he couldn’t have been prouder. Ty and Zane vowed to make sure those kids had a place they would always be accepted, something they both would have loved to have growing up.

“Hey, Matt, what’s up man?” 

Matt glanced at Zane and back at Ty. “Z said you wanted to join in. We’ve been waiting for you.”

Ty’s eyes darted to Zane who was trying his best to hide his smile and then back down to Matt. “Okay, but you’ll have to explain it to me. I don’t even have a character.”

Three hours later, the teens left to go home and do their homework. Ty locked the door behind him, turning to see Zane watching him as he did. “Have fun, Beaumont?”

“That’s not my name,” Ty insisted. “I think you mean Tyos the Halfling Warrior.”

Zane laughed and offered his hand to Ty. “My apologies, Tyos. I’ll make you dinner as amends.”

“That’s more like it,” Ty grinned, taking his husband’s hand. “About time you showed me the respect I deserve.”

They both laughed all the way up the stairs to their home.


	21. Competition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone state their numbers and let's see who wins!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Day 21 Prompt:** Competition

The rest of the team arrived early the next morning. Digger burst through the doors of the shop like he owned the place with Owen right behind, rolling his eyes fondly. "Grady, Garrett," he greeted them both, dropping his things as he pulled first Ty then Zane into a hug. 

"Ozone! Did you have a good flight?" Ty asked as Zane grabbed their luggage to take upstairs, leaving the gear bag currently sitting in Digger's feet. Even if they weren't going anywhere, it was safer to let Digger deal with his own bags. They had a tendency to explode if you didn't know what you were handling.

"We're here in one piece which is all that matters, right?" The flights from San Diego to New Orleans then New Orleans to Baltimore had been unremarkable. Owen remembered them being a little more rambunctious before he'd married Riley and Digger stopped pretending to be interested in picking up women. Now they were practically old men, happy to nurse their drinks and plan for the weekend ahead.

Ty laughed, moving out of the way so Nick and Kelly could greet the newcomers. Owen couldn't believe the change in Nick since he and Kelly had gotten together. It had been a weird realization and Owen took longer than the rest to come to terms with it but he couldn't ignore how much happier they both were. And now that he had Riley, he understood. 

He also regretted the way he acted when he first found out about Ty and Zane, but there was no use in apologizing for that anymore. Ty said it was water under the bridge and he'd punch Owen if he ever said sorry for it again. 

He would, too. And Owen didn't want to be on the receiving end of one of Grady's punches.

"So, are we ready to go? Grady and Garrett only want to close their shop for a day." Kelly was trying to physically push them out the door, much to everyone's amusement. They'd had this on the books for months and they'd all been looking forward to it, even if they wouldn't admit it now. This was a standing tradition and no bonkers idea from Six was going to change it.

Ty gestured around the shop, "We still have so much to do! What do you want from me? I can't work miracles."

"I want to look around!" Digger pouted, already heading off in the direction of one of Ty's displays. 

Owen grabbed the back of his shirt. "We'll be here for a few days. You can look then. I bet they might even let you help. But if you want to shoot things, we need to go now. This was the only day they had available."

"Fine, but I better get to shoot one of your asses."

Zane locked up as they all piled into Nick's SUV. It was too small for six men their size but somehow they always made it work. Gear was in the back, the rest of them in the front, Ty practically in Garrett's lap. "Hey, darlin'," he purred and everyone else groaned. 

"Come on, Six. You don't see the rest of us being disgusting in here."

"That's just because I threatened Doc with bodily harm if they tried anything where I can see or hear them." Zane chuckled and wrapped his arms more securely around Ty. "Plus, Nick is driving and even we aren't so bad that we would take that risk."

"Oh, we've totally fucked in this car," Kelly said with a manic grin. "In every seat, if I'm counting right."

Owen had to bite back his own horrified reaction to that news but it was nothing like Ty who practically jumped out of the seat, only kept in place by his seatbelt and his husband's arms. "WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT? I didn't need to know that!"

"Oh, please. You're telling me you two haven't gone at it in that Mustang of yours?"

Ty glowered and Owen braced himself. They all know that look far too well. "That's different!"

"How?"

"Because it's us! I don't need to know where you two are sticking things. It's just..." Ty shuddered and buried his face in Zane's neck, who pet him on the back gently but was rolling his eyes whenever Ty couldn't see.

Kelly was cackling and Nick shaking his head in mock despair. Owen didn't think he had any right to judge, though. He was the one in love with their batshit crazy Doc. That had to make Nick at least as certifiable as Kelly, 

"If we're talking about how many places if we've stuck things," Digger said, his deep voice carrying over the general din of the car, "then I think we all know that Irish is going to win that competition. Man- and woman-kind all mourn the fact that he is off the market."

"That's right. They can look but only I get to touch!" Kelly reached across the console to grope his fiance, only to have his hand batted away. "What?!? I'm supposed to be able to touch!"

"Not in the car while I'm driving, Kels! Not in front of our friends!"

Owen could have sworn he heard Kelly mutter "spoilsport" under his breath but valued his life too much to mention it. Instead, he deflected, “What about Zane? Where do you think you rank in this little competition they’ve started?”

Shaking his head, Zane closed his eyes. “Please don’t drag me into this. I plead the Fifth.”

“Why? Haven’t had that conversation yet? You’d think you would want to know that before you got married.” This time it was Owen who closed his eyes, praying that they would all get through this outing without killing one another. It seemed age had not toned down Kelly’s tendency to say whatever he thought, regardless of the outcome. At least they wouldn’t be using real bullets when they got there.

“No, we’ve had that conversation,” Zane assured them. “I just don’t think either of us wants to relive it.” It dawned on Owen that Zane might not be talking about one-night stands but more the late-wife that no one ever mentioned.

Digger stepped in before anyone could make it worse. “Fair. So I think it’s between O and Six. Winners buy the losers drinks.” He glanced at Zane, “Or dinner. That’s better. My vote’s Ty.

Kelly disagreed, “Definitely Nicko.”

“I’m voting Ty if anyone cares,” Nick offered. 

“I’m with Nick and Digger. Definitely Ty.” Owen thought that was the safe bet.

Huffing, Ty shook his head. “Absolutely, O. There’s no way he got less than me.”

Owen turned to Zane, “Looks like you’re the deciding vote. Who is it?”

Zane stayed silent for a long time, considering it from every angle, or so Owen assumed. He was definitely an analytical man. “I am going to go with O’Flaherty. Not because I think he is necessarily the winner but because I really like getting laid and voting against my husband is a surefire way for that to not happen for a while.”

“Alright, three and three. Stated your numbers gentlemen!”

When all was said and done, half the car was happy, half was upset and both Ty and Nick’s faces were a burning red. 

This was already turning into an entertaining day and they hadn’t even gotten to paintball yet. 

Owen needed to come up and see these guys more often.


	22. Muddy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sidewinder paintball goes as well as can be expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Day 22 Prompt:** Muddy

His feet were soaked, hands were numb, and practically every inch of him was covered in mud. 

Whoever thought going paintballing in Baltimore in October was a good idea deserved to be shot. 

And he had been. Zane had taken out Ty almost immediately after the game started. Kelly nearly got shot in return, laughing so hard he gave away his position and had to dive into the mud to keep from getting hit when Nick sighted him from across the field. Ty’s creative cursing would stay with Kelly forever. It was already the highlight of the day.

It was decided that the couples should not be paired together so the teams ended up as Nick, Ty, and Owen versus Kelly, Zane, and Digger.

“I’m going to pay for that one,” Zane muttered, crawling over to where Kelly was lying. Neither of them had seen Digger since they started the game and only hoped they wouldn’t be caught in friendly fire when he finally launched whatever maniac attack he was planning. 

“Weren’t you just saying in the car that you enjoyed having sex with him? Might as well cross Ty off your to-do list until Christmas at least. He doesn’t forgive easily.” 

“I’ll make it up to him later. Probably have to cave and let him have his ‘serial killer’s hall of fame’ in the haunted house or something. But really, more than anyone, Ty should understand that all’s fair in love and paintball.”

“You two are so weird.”

“Coming from you, Doc, that’s a compliment.”

They grinned at one another. “We need to buy time for Digger to do whatever it is he has planned. Trust me, Digger hates to lose more than any of us. We just need to give him the time he needs.” Kelly loved this. Being outside, working with his team to accomplish a goal. It was one of the reasons he loved the camp so much, why he loved being in Sidewinder so much. These weekends were a great way to reconnect with that. 

“Do I even want to know what he’s planning?” Zane sounded resigned at Kelly had to remind himself that Zane was new to all of this. He fit in so well with the rest of the team, it often felt like he’d been there the whole time. 

Kelly shook his head. “Best not to ask. But to be honest, I don’t know either. It’s usually big and grand and involves some explosive device that shouldn’t be possible.”

“Great,” Zane muttered, though he was grinning. Kelly liked Zane. He rolled with Sidewinder’s weirdness with a grace not many could manage. He supposed being married to Ty Grady help immensely with that. “So, we need a distraction. Any ideas that don’t involve me being used as a human shield?”

Gaping openly at him, Kelly was momentarily speechless. “He told you!” Kelly still remembered the time not long after they got back from deployment that they came out to play paintball and Kelly used Ty as a human shield. Ty hadn’t spoken to him for three weeks. And they lived in the same house. (Kelly had been endlessly amused to hear Ty used that trick on Zane years later and hoped Zane gave him the same silent treatment. But judging on how _loud_ those two could be, he rather doubted it.)

“Of course he told me. It was his defense for why he used it on me years later.”

Kelly laughed. “Well, if I know the others, and I do, Nick is on one side of that ridge. Nick is probably on the left due to personal preference. Ty would have been on the other. We can avoid him easily enough if we figure out where he is currently situated. Then we go the opposite way. Ozone’s the wildcard. He followed orders well and considering how much Ty and Nick know us, they’ve probably told him all our weaknesses. Our best bet is to exploit Nick’s location and then hope Owen follows Nick’s lead.” Kelly knew all their tricks and had beaten them all at their own game before. It didn’t happen all the time but he’d done it enough to be confident in his abilities.

“Or...” Zane started quietly. “We all know Ty’s already out of the game. They will expect us to exploit that. So, I vote we determine where Nick is, make some sort of diversion on what would have been Ty’s side and head for Nick. We might get to him before Digger is even done, then we only have to deal with Owen.”

“You are a devious bastard, Zane Garrett. I can see why Six loves you. Okay, let’s do it.” 

They moved quietly, careful not to disrupt the grass or bushes around them. Following Zane’s plan to a T, they located Nick and then rolled a rock down a small incline, enough that the grass shook as it went by. Then they went in the opposite direction.

Closing in on Nick, Kelly just about had him in his sights when a loud noise came from behind them and Kelly pushed Zane to the ground. A moment later something whizzed past them both and an explosion rocked the air. “Holy Crap, Digger! Was that necessary?”

A ten-yard radius was covered in the bright green paint, and both Nick and Owen stood there looking stunned. “How...?” Nick asked before Owen shook his head and placed his hand on Nick’s paint and mud-soaked shoulder. 

“We agreed to never ask that question, remember?”

Nick nodded and Zane and Kelly got to their feet now that the danger had passed. “Man, I didn’t even get to shoot anyone!” Kelly pouted 

Nick rolled his eyes as Digger and Ty rejoined the group. “Team KZD for the win!” Digger declared, giving a fist bump to Kelly and Zane.

“I can’t believe you beat us,” Ty was mumbling but he’d wrapped his arm around Zane’s waist and was looking at him with unabashed affection. “And I can’t believe you shot me, Lone Star.”

“You know I love you, doll,” Zane said and Kelly smacked him on the back of the head.

“Stop being lovey-dovey. It’s gross, or whatever.” Not that he cared but Ty gave him and Nick so much grief, it was nice to return the favor. “Are you guys surprised we won? I mean, look at your team.” Nick, Ty, and Owen all glanced at each other and then back at Kelly. Kelly grinned pointing at each of them in turn. “Nick. Owen. Ty. Team N.O.T. As in, NOT going to win.”


	23. Exhaustion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paintball is exhausting. Ty and Zane finally get a moment to relax.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Day 23 Prompt:** Exhaustion
> 
> It's so _soft_

Sidewinder dropped Ty and Zane a the bookshop before heading on to their hotel. The guys were going to come by in the morning and they could plan the rest of their time in Baltimore. Trudging up the steps to their apartment, both of them were silently cursing the fact that they lived on the third floor. It was a great idea most of the time but right now, tired and sore as they were, it seemed like an added hassle. 

“Shower?” Ty asked, nodding towards the bathroom door and Zane followed behind, stifling the yawn that threatened. When did they get so old that a day of paintballing would wear them out like this?

Efficiently, they stripped out of their clothes, leaving the muddy garments on the floor to be cleaned when they were done. Ty stepped into the hot water and offered his hand to Zane, pulling his husband in next to him. They washed with practiced ease and then just stood there, letting the hot water soothe their aching muscles. Ty’s arms went around Zane’s waist and Zane’s went around Ty’s shoulders and they stood there, soaking in the silence and the comfort of the one they loved next to them. 

As the water started to grow cold, Ty reached behind him to turn it off and they dried quickly, the air chilly on their damn skin. The cats meowed and pawed at the door, pulling a chuckle from Ty who wrapped his towel around his waist and pressed a kiss to his husband’s lips before padding off to feed his two little monsters. 

Zane turned the other direction to the bedroom. It was early still but the shop was closed, they had no deliveries expected until tomorrow, and they’d already eaten dinner with the team on their way home from paintballing. There was nothing they had to do so Zane draped his towel over the back of the chair and climbed into bed, sighing as his muscles relaxed on the soft mattress. 

A few moments later, Ty joined him and followed suit. As soon as he was in bed, Zane pulled him into his arms and they tangled their legs together under the duvet. A low current of desire flowed between them but there was no need for more than this. Soft touches and softer words, traded kisses and the warmth of his lover’s embrace; this was all either of them desired. 

The warmth of the other’s body only made the exhaustion of the day more pronounced and they both slipped into slumber, still holding one another close. Jiminy and Cricket joined them later, curled up at the end of the bed and purring contentedly. 

The next day would bring more chaos, with Sidewinder still in town. It would bring difficult customers and haunted house exhibits that just weren’t quite right. It would bring all the frustrations and stresses of their everyday lives. 

But for now, they had this. They had each other and a home and more love than either ever expected to receive. 

And that was enough.

That was everything.


	24. Fantasy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zane waxes poetic about his life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Day 24 Prompt:** Fantasy
> 
> The softness continues. Introspective Zane.

Growing up, Zane resigned himself to the life his mother had laid out for him. Go to college. Marry a girl from a good family with good connections. Go to law school. Move home and run the ranch. Provide the next generation of Garretts. He didn’t like it but he didn’t have any better ideas so he shrugged his shoulders and went along with it. 

College was great. He actually enjoyed his time there so he couldn’t be too upset about being shoved in that direction. And while he was there, he met Becky. 

Zane loved Becky with everything he had. She was his rock in the storm that was his mind. She could pull him back from his angry outbursts after dealing with his mother. She loved him, flaws and all, and he loved her in return. 

He diverted from the law school plan when the FBI recruited him and once he made it through training, Zane had never regretted that decision. Everyone but his mother could see he would have been miserable if he followed her plan. It was the first time in his life that Zane allowed himself to have his own dreams. 

Then Becky was gone and Zane lost touch with everything. What was the point of living without her? The pain was almost too much to bear and Zane just didn’t have the energy to fight it anymore. 

Until Ty. 

Zane had barely been holding on when he met Ty, having given up on everything but living one more day. And while their road hadn’t been easy, Zane wouldn’t trade it for anything. 

All those things were going through his head as he watched Ty and Nick trying to create a working guillotine in the history section. Digger and Owen were offering suggestions to make it more lethal while Kelly stood back and recorded the whole thing for posterity. “Why do you even have that thing, Kels?” Nick had asked when he noticed the camera in his hands.

“Because when this comes to blows, I will have undeniable proof about who started it.” They all considered that for a moment, then nodded at the truth of it all.

Zane did what he could to stifle his laugh though a snicker still escaped him. Ty looked over at him and winked and Zane’s heart fluttered in his chest. Ty did that to him often, even after all their years together. 

“Stay strong, doll!” Zane called to him. Ty held up a fist and went back to arguing with the rest of his teammates. 

His brothers. 

Zane loved his family. He really did despite how it might look to others. And being with Ty only brought him closer to them. But aside from his own family, now he had Ty’s as well. West Virginia felt as much like home to him as Texas did. He found a second set of parents, a grandfather, and a brother. He had nieces that he loved.

And then there was Sidewinder. Aside from Deuce, that team were the closest thing to brothers Zane ever had either. Mark was fine and all but he didn’t understand, he didn’t get Zane or any of them. This was more than Zane ever expected to have.

He didn’t believe in the supernatural or spiritual but sometimes Zane had to wonder if someone out there was looking out for him.

With an amused shake of his head, Zane just rested his chin in his hands, taking in the chaos. Standing in his own bookstore, watching his husband and their friends joking around, with their home upstairs and a CIA safe house downstairs, Zane realized he was living in a fantasy, a fairy tale. Sure, it might not have been anyone else’s version of a dream come true but this life he had with Ty was more than he ever thought he deserved, more than he ever dared to hope. 

Ty was his happily ever after, the one he never expected. A dream come true. A fantasy come to life.


	25. "Don't You Dare..."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ty learns that actions have consequences. 
> 
> Or maybe he knew that already.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Day 25 Prompt:** "Don't you dare..."

“I really think you should be thanking me,” Ty argued, glaring at his husband as though he was in the right when they both clearly knew he was being ridiculous. “Digger had other ideas and I think we can both agree that anything I can come up with will be better than his. At least nothing will be exploding if we do this my way.”

Ty had a point, Zane knew, but he also knew that ‘not exploding’ was too low a bar for them to be aiming for. And even if nothing exploded, it would still result in a lot of clean up for them at the end of each day and they both knew who would be the one doing the cleaning. (Though, to be fair, Ty was far neater than Zane was, he just didn’t transfer his OCD tendencies to the store like Zane. 

“We aren’t doing it, Ty. Just accept that. I’ve agreed to a lot of disruption in the store already. You can’t add this on top of it.” Zane pinched the bridge of his nose, already prepared for the argument he could see building behind Ty’s eyes. 

“One, you are excited about this too so don’t try to pin it all on me. And two, weren’t you the one who suggested that we need to scare people? And what is scarier than a jump scare?”

“That isn’t a jump scare, Ty. That is a mess waiting to happen. No one in the history of the world has ever been scared by that and you will not be the first person to achieve that goal.” Zane recognized the glint in Ty’s eyes and stepped back, holding up his hands. “Don’t you dare, Meow Mix. This wouldn’t be scary. This would just piss me off.”

“I don’t know,” Ty hummed. “You pissed off is pretty scary.”

Zane could see what Ty was doing, could see his husband winding him up just for fun or pleasure (with Ty, the two went hand in hand). He took a deep breath to calm his pounding pulse but he was pushed over the edge when Ty shot him in the face. With silly string.

“Beaumont!” Zane growled and Ty laughed, dodging out of the reach of Zane’s hands. “Give that to me now or so help me...”

Running around the end of one shelf, Ty stuck his hand through the shelves and shot Zane again before darting away again. His laughter echoed through the store and as much as Zane wanted to be mad, he would do anything to hear that sound every day for the rest of his life. 

Even get shot with the foamy string-like substance.

They’d already locked up for the night and were supposed to be meeting Sidewinder for drinks later on. Ty had hoped to get some work on the haunted house done as they were quickly running out of time, but the argument had broken out between them and now neither man thought about the haunted house at all. 

Zane could see Ty trying to make it to the stairs up to their apartment and went the other way, cutting his husband off before he could make a break for it. “Where do you think you are going?” His voice had gone low and dangerous and Zane could see the desire written all over his face. 

“I was trying to get to our bed.” If Ty was going for innocence, he missed by a longshot.

Wrapping his arm around Ty’s waist, Zane dragged him close, putting his lips right next to his husband's ear and enjoying the way he shuddered in his arms. “I think we both knew we aren’t going to make it that far.”

Instead of innuendo or promises, Ty said something else entirely. “Not the stairs, Zane. My back hurt for a week after the last time.” Zane laughed as they both turned to look at the hardwood stairs leading to the upper floors and remembering some good times had on them. 

“Fine. Stay here and get your pants off. I’ll be right back.” While they had lube stashed all over the house, they’d both agreed that storing it around their shop would be bad form. But it was both under the front counter and in the back room. They weren’t stupid. Running up and down the stairs every time they got the urge was going to get exhausting. 

Turning to go, Zane was stopped by Ty’s hand curling around his bicep. “No need, Lone Star.” Ty pulled one of the individual packets of lube they kept for travel out of the back pocket of his jeans. “Always prepared.”

He narrowed his eyes, realizing what was happening. “You planned this whole thing! Asshole!” Though, whether Zane was upset that he’d been played or upset that his husband knew him well enough to do that, he wasn’t sure. “In that case, give that to me and go to the counter.”

Ty obeyed almost instantly, a sign that he wanted this as much as Zane did. Considering they were in the shop, it would be fast, a preview of the night to come, not the main attraction. Zane figured if they got off now, they could really draw it out later that night upstairs. “Drop your pants and face the counter.”

Once more, Ty obeyed without question and Zane’s cock twitched. He adored this submissive side of Ty, a side most would not believe existed. A side only Zane got to enjoy. He freed himself from his own pants and gave his cock a quick squeeze to take some of the edge of his arousal. 

Ripping open the lube, Zane made quick work of prepping Ty, knowing neither of them wanted it slow and gentle right now. “You have to be quiet, you hear me,” he growled in Ty’s ear, the head of his cock nudging at Ty’s entrance. “There are people outside who would be quite horrified to know what we are doing in here.” 

Ty groaned and pushed back against Zane. A man could only take so much temptation so Zane gripped Ty’s hips and pushed in, slowly filling him to the hilt. Ty dropped his head to the counter, muffling his moans of pleasure against his own arm. 

“God, you feel so good, Ty.” He did. That velvety heat surrounding him, Ty gripping him tight as Zane struggled not to pound into him without any warning. But he wouldn’t do that to Ty. 

Once Ty gave a quick nod, however, everything was fair game. Gripping his hip with one hand and pushing him down against the counter with the other, Zane took the pleasure being offered to him, using Ty’s body to bring him higher and higher towards his completion. 

Ty rocked back against him, taking everything Zane offered and then some. Only when he felt the heat coiling in his gut did Zane lean forward and reach a hand around to bring Ty off with him, feeling the warm slick of his husband’s release coating his fingers as Zane thrust deep into Ty and found his own orgasm. 

He collapsed on top of Ty, wrapping his arms around his waist to stay close while they both caught their breath. As his cock softened and slipped from Ty’s body, Zane gave a sigh and pushed away. They were both a mess, leaving no doubt as to what they’d been up to. “So, worth it?”

“Pissing you off is always worth it, baby. Now, let’s go upstairs, have a shower and see where the night takes us.” 

At that moment, an early bedtime and holding Ty in his arms sounded just as good as anything but Zane had absolute faith in Ty’s abilities to convince him otherwise. And he looked forward to it. 

“Lead the way, doll. I’m right behind you.”


	26. Caffeine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ty's thoughts as he works late into the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Day 26 Prompt:** Caffeine
> 
> Ty's stream of consciousness. The squirrels were working overtime in this one.

Setting the Dr. Pepper aside, Ty got back to work. They were so close now. The haunted house was practically perfect and all he needed to do was put the finishing touches on it before they opened Monday morning. Zane and he had agreed to have the haunted house open for four days, with Halloween itself being the final chance to see it. But it meant he only had a few more days to get it done and with Sidewinder in town, Ty didn’t have nearly as much free time as he would have liked. 

So it was now eleven at night, the shop had been closed for hours, Zane disappeared upstairs a while ago, mumbling about doing some painting, and Ty continued to work. Even Jiminy and Cricket had abandoned him in favor of sleeping on the couch upstairs. 

Ty didn’t mind. He used to work nights so this was as familiar to him as anything else. Though he wouldn’t get to shoot anyone. Most likely. Zane frowned upon them getting blood on the hardwood. 

Hardwood, Ty snickered to himself as he set the final touches on a lighting system. If he did have to shoot someone and clean up afterward, he could show Zane some hardwood that might make things better. Zane always enjoyed that sort of thing. 

Though, if it meant damage to his beloved bookstore...

No, Zane hadn’t been too concerned the other night when he took Ty over the front counter and Ty managed to knock over the entire display in front of the cash register. Ty could distract him like that again and it would be alright.

If Zane were to come downstairs, he’d be a huge distraction to Ty right now. He’d love it. He’d hate it. Maybe he should call Zane with some made-up emergency just so he’d come down to the shop and Ty could ogle him while he worked. 

Ogling Zane was the best hobby he’d ever had. 

How had the team at the Bureau never caught on? Ty felt like he stared at Zane’s ass more than he ever stared at his own paperwork. They were careful but even they slipped up. And yet not one agent in the whole team realized that something was up. Useless, the lot of them. 

Ty missed them. The CIA was great and he loved how relaxed (and pliant... mmm, pliant) the shop made Zane, but there was something nice about the Bureau that the CIA could never duplicate. It didn’t help that half of their teammates were gone. 

Damn, now he felt guilty. Both Alston and Lassiter knew what they were getting into when they followed Ty and Zane into the fray but it didn’t make him feel any better. Ty knew Zane’s guilt was even worse as he was the reason the cartel was after them at all, and he was the one to shoot Clancy and Perrimore, even if they survived otherwise unharmed. 

It was so hilarious watching tiny Michelle tell Zane off for shooting her. She still came by on occasion and every time, she lit into him again. He curled in on himself each time and it was all Ty could do not to laugh (because if he _did_ laugh, then she would turn on him and he definitely didn’t want that).

They should call her some time. They hadn’t had dinner together in a while and that man of hers, the one in North Carolina, was supposed to be up soon. Next week? Or was it last week? It was a shame he was in Financial Crimes. Maybe he could keep up with her. Ty hoped so. Clancy didn’t need some pushover number cruncher. 

God, was it almost tax season? Ty both loved and hated tax time, mostly because he loved fucking with the government, particularly now, after the government had fucked with him for so long. Detailing out his work expenses gave Ty a sadistic sort of joy. You write down bullets, rope, and lye on one tax return and suddenly they don’t want to talk to you anymore. 

Zane would never let him do the taxes though. It would be fun if he could do them. Then he’d upset the government and fluster his husband, two of Ty’s favorite things.

“Doll? Are you still down here?”

“Over here!” Ty called, raising a plastic hand in the air so Zane could see him. “Can I do the taxes?”

Zane blinked at him as he turned the corner. “It’s October, Ty.” 

“Yes, and it’s almost tax season. I want to do the itemizing, at least. Plastic hands, Zane! Plastic hands.”

He followed Zane’s eyes as they darted around the room, eventually falling on the now-empty case of Dr. Pepper. “Grady, how many of those have you had?”

“I don’t know. How many are left?” Zane sounded worried. Perturbed. Uneasy. All those other words that mean the same thing. “Synonyms!”

“None. And what about synonyms?”

“Then all of them. And you are all the synonyms.” 

“Twelve Dr. Peppers in two hours? Jesus Ty, how has your heart not beat out of your chest.”

“Might have. Pretty sure I would have noticed by now.” Ty liked to believe that anyway. Why did everything feel fuzzy? Like drunk but...more?

Oh, right, caffeine.

“Okay, you’ve been cut off. Go upstairs and lay down before you twitch yourself into oblivion. I can’t even leave you alone for a few hours, can I?”

Ty shook his head, not liking the idea of Zane leaving him. “You can’t leave. I won’t let you.” He took Zane’s hand. 

Zane squeezed his hand back and gave him a warm smile. “Alright, let’s go take a long shower and see if you might just pass out from the amount of caffeine and sugar in your system.” He shook his head and laughed. “If not, you’re going to have one hell of a Dr. Pepper hangover in the morning and I won’t be sympathetic.”

“But I will be pathetic and you will feel bad for me.” 

Ty gave him the biggest puppy dog eyes he could muster and Zane sighed audibly. “You’re probably right. How can you even make over-caffeination look attractive?”

“It’s a gift, truly. But you aren’t so bad yourself.” Before Zane could reply Ty stuck out the plastic appendage he was still carrying around. “Here, give yourself a hand.”

With that, he fell over laughing as if it was the best joke in the world. 

Because it was.

No matter what Zane might say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout out to the_random_writer for the Ty and taxes idea.


	27. Restraints

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ty doesn't want to talk about it. At all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Day 27 Prompt:** Restraints

“I have so many questions.” Kelly leaned against a shelf staring at Ty and the predicament he currently found himself in. “First, why? Second, how? Third, dear god, _why_?”

Ty glared at the Doc, not really in the mood to explain himself. If he didn’t get this sorted out soon, Zane would never let him live it down. And while he doubted Kelly would either, Kelly wasn’t the one he wanted to continue sleeping with for the rest of his life. “Are you going to help me or are you going to stand there and stare?”

“Stand and stare, definitely.” Kelly smirked at him and Ty wanted to smack him. Not that he could. For a number of reasons. The main one being that he couldn’t currently move his arms. 

Ty rolled his eyes and worked the knots to get himself out of the tangle. “Listen, I know this looks bad but things just got a little out of hand and now I need to get out before Zane comes back here and sees.”

Kelly still didn’t move to help. His lips quirked and Ty wondered how Nick could deal with him all the time. Though, they probably all wondered how Zane could deal with him too. Kelly’s eyes trailed up and down his body before he nodded. “Yeah, he’s not going to be amused.” 

“No shit. So help me out. You’re supposed to help us. Isn’t that in the oath you took when you joined Sidewinder?”

“To help you before your husband found you and beat your ass? No, pretty sure that wasn’t in the vows.”

“He’s not going to try and beat me up. We got that out of our system before we started sleeping together.” Kelly rolled his eyes and Ty glared. “Like you and Irish didn’t have your share of fights over the years. But the point is, Zane is either going to be pissed or is going to ruin my reputation forever so either way, you need to help me before he finds out.”

Looking around the shop (though Ty wondered how he could even see over the shelves), Kelly shook his head. “Nah, I want to see what happens. Besides, what reputation do you have to ruin? We’ve all seen you at your best. There’s nothing that you could do to surprise us anymore.”

That was probably true, Ty figured but he didn’t want to give Kelly any more ammunition against him. Besides, if he tried to argue too much, he would definitely attract the attention of the others who were all around somewhere and then he would have to deal with five sets of eyes on him instead of just one. “Doc, please, I’m not above begging or blackmail.”

“Blackmail would imply that I have any shame about anything I’ve done in my life, so you’ve already lost there. And I don’t think Garrett seeing you begging me while in that position is going to make things any better. You still haven’t explained how you wound up like that.”

“And I’m not going to. Fine, can you at least get my knife out of my boot for me?”

“Nope.” Kelly popped the p and Ty started contemplating ways to get rid of Doc without anyone blaming him. “Come on. You SARC trained your cats and you can’t figure out how to get out of there?”

Ty had been trying. He’d been trying for a few minutes before Kelly even came along. But the binds were much stronger than they looked and his hands weren’t budging. “I’m not as flexible as I used to be.”

“Poor Garrett.”

“Poor Garrett, what?” Ty closed his eyes and wished he could be anywhere but here when he heard his husband’s voice. “What are you to doin...” Zane turned the corner and just stared at him, mouth agape. “I have so many questions. Why? How? Seriously Meow Mix?”

“That’s what I said!” Kelly bounced on his toes and grinned. “He won’t tell me how this happened.”

Zane pulled out his phone and snapped a picture, causing Ty to glower at him, though Zane just smiled and slid the phone back into his pocket. “Doll, mind telling me how you got so...tied up?”

“I do mind, actually.” Ty didn’t want to explain. He didn’t want anyone to know that he’d just made a small mistake and ended up like this. It was too embarrassing. And if Zane already had photographic evidence of the aftermath, he _really_ didn’t need to know what led up to it. “I plead the fifth?”

“Interesting that you think pleading the fifth isn’t just as incriminating as you telling me what you did. I can always go pull up the CCTV feed.”

“Oh! Let’s go do that! I want to see.”

“DOC!”

Zane laughed and Ty plotted getting rid of them both. He quickly dismissed that idea. There were certain parts of Zane he would miss terribly if he was gone. 

“Just tell us what you did and I’ll let you out.” Zane flicked his wrist and one of his knives was in his hand. It was just as sexy now as it was the first time Ty saw it. God he wanted Zane. But not like this. And not with Kelly watching.

“Fine, I tell you what happened and you let me out?”

Zane nodded, eyeing the ropes that were wrapped all around Ty, keeping him efficiently in place. “Alright, but you can’t laugh. And you can’t question it.”

Kelly and Zane exchanged a look and finally looked back at him and nodded. “Fine. Tell us.”

Ty took a deep breath, eyes darting from side to side to make sure no one else was around to hear his confession. “Alright. It was aliens.”

“Aliens?” Zane asked in that deadpan tone of his. 

“ALIENS!” Ty practically yelled it, trying to make it as emphatic as possible.

Zane sighed and shook his head. “Fine, stay there.” 

“Zane! I promise it was aliens.” Ty made an exaggerated glance at the ceiling and both Kelly and Zane followed his eye line, almost immediately bursting out in laughter. “You know what, on second thought, leave me here. Safer for both of you because I’m going to kill you the moment I’m free.”

Zane slashed open the ropes, letting them fall to the ground. Ty was impressed with his bravery since Ty had literally just threatened to kill him. “Doll, I just want to know how you went from hanging cheesy UFOs from the ceiling to being tied up like a Christmas roast. Not that I don’t like the look but...” Zane didn’t finish the thought because they both knew what he was going to say, that this wasn’t Ty’s thing. But not with Kelly standing there. 

“I don’t know, okay. I’m not sure how this happened so I’m blaming the aliens.”

Shrugging, Zane helped him out of the ropes. “Fair enough. But I think you both know we’re never letting you live this down.”

“Yeah, I know. I still love you though, Lone Star.” Ty turned to Kelly. “You’re dead to me, however, Doc.”

Kelly just laughed. “Yeah, yeah. You know what? I can live with that.”


	28. Slammed Against Wall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zane's getting some unwanted attention. Ty takes matters into his own hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Day 28 Prompt:** Slammed against wall

On the rare occasion that Ty offered to watch the front, Zane enjoyed going through the shop and reorganizing the books. Partly because customers always seemed to put things back in the wrong place and partly because Ty didn’t understand the importance of alphabetical organization. Ty and his OCD-ness couldn’t have books of different sizes next to one another. Or clashing colors. Or any other ridiculous excuses he could come up with. 

Sometimes, Zane suspected Ty did it just because he knew how much Zane enjoyed putting them all back. Zane loved him so much. 

Working in a bookshop should have meant they could relax a little, let their guard down on occasion. Working in a bookshop that was also a CIA safe house meant that they were both always on, always waiting for something to go wrong. They both still carried, though they hadn’t needed them yet. In the shop part of the building. They’d both pulled them a number of times in the back. And there was that one time Cross had broken in...

The point was that no one could sneak up on either Ty or Zane, so Zane knew the man was there long before he announced his presence. “Excuse me,” he said, voice low and soft like many people who confused the store for a library. “I was wondering if you might help me out.”

He didn’t set off any of Zane’s warning bells and Ty wasn’t moving in his peripheral vision so Zane figured he was okay. Turning to face him, he nodded and put on his best customer service smile. “Of course, what do you need?” 

He was younger than both Ty and Zane, fit and sort of attractive if you went for the clean-cut book nerd look. Not Zane’s type but he could see the appeal for someone other than him. 

“Well, I’m having a bit of trouble finding things through the haunted house you have set up here. It looks great, though.” Zane sighed, hoping this wouldn’t be a trend for the next few days. The house was bringing in more people than usual today, but if the customers couldn’t find anything then it wasn’t doing them any good. “I’m looking for the self-help section. I need to find a book on picking up a man in the bookstore without looking creepy.”

Zane’s eyebrows nearly reached his hairline. Someone was trying to pick him up? In his shop? That he owned with his husband? Who was standing not twenty feet away? And could kill the man before he drew another breath? That took guts. 

“Um...” Zane said, his normal eloquence failing him in the face of this strange situation. 

What the man saw on his face, Zane didn’t know, but it wasn’t an invitation to move forward. But he did it anyway. Zane took a step away, back hitting the shelf behind him. Raising a brow, Zane stared at him, wondering how to handle this. He wasn’t pinging any of his alarms as a threat so Zane would hate to hurt him but at the same time, he was married and _really _not interested. “I think perhaps you’ve got the wrong shop,” he managed eventually, sidestepping so he wasn’t trapped anymore. 

“I don’t think so. None of the other stores in Baltimore have a man who looks as good as you, working.” 

It was all he could do not to roll his eyes. Instead, Zane shook his head. “I’m flattered but not interested. I think it might be best for everyone if you left.” The store could do with one less sale and if he could get this guy out without bloodshed, all the better. 

“Come on. Just one date. You know you want to, baby.”

The man didn’t get a chance to continue before he was slammed against the wall, an arm at his throat. “_You _do not get to call him that,” Ty growled. “Only I get to call him that. And he gave you an answer. You would do well in life to remember that if someone is backing away and turning you down, you don’t go towards him. You’re lucky my husband has so much self-restraint. You’re unlucky because I don’t.”

Zane knew he should pull Ty off, or at least give a cursory chastisement but it was rather fun watching Ty defend his honor. And he was reasonably sure Ty wouldn’t kill him. 

“Your husband?” the man asked and the surprise on his face almost had Zane feeling sorry for him. 

Ty grinned, predatory and dark. “Yep. And unfortunately for you, that beautiful man married me, someone who has killed more people than you could possibly imagine. Would you like to be the next on the list?”

The man shook his head and bolted the moment Ty let him go. The moment the bell over the door rang signaling he was gone, Ty bend over, laughing so hard he had tears running down his face. “If he didn’t piss him, I would be disappointed. You alright, Lone Star.”

While he should probably go after the man and soothe things over before he ran to the police, Zane really didn’t care at that moment. The CIA would take care of any charges made against them. And that fucker deserved it if the CIA turned up at his door. “I’m fine, doll. I could have taken him, you know.” And he would have had the man on the ground faster than he could blink if he’d approached anymore.

“I know, but I enjoy getting to defend you on occasion.”

Zane smiled and took Ty’s face in his hands, kissing him gently. “My assassin in shining armor. I love it when you go all badass Marine.”

Ty huffed but smiled. “I’m always a badass Marine.”

“Except when you are rolling on the floor playing with your kittens.”

“That isn’t _playing_, that is _training_, and it is very serious business.”

Zane laughed and pulled Ty into a hug. Ty came willingly, practically melting against Zane as he wrapped his arms around Zane’s waist. “Whatever you say, baby. Whatever you say.”


	29. Wicked

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ty makes sure Zane remembers who he married.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Day 29 Prompt:** Wicked
> 
> Sexy times ahead.

The man from earlier that day was easily forgotten. Zane hadn’t spared him another glance after Ty chased him out of the store. Instead, he made out with Ty like teenagers until someone walked in and they were forced to act like professionals once more. 

But the heat from that kiss stayed with him for the rest of the day, a low boil deep in his gut. Seeing Ty’s power on display never failed to make him hot and this was no different. If the looks Ty kept shooting Zane all day were any indication, Ty was just as hyped up after the encounter as Zane was. 

It didn’t come as a surprise, then, that after work, Ty directed Zane to the bedroom instead of anywhere else in the house. He kicked the door closed to keep the cats out and then pulled Zane into a heated kiss, hands tugging at Zane’s clothes to get them off as soon as possible.

Zane was nude in record time and Ty pushed him down on the bed while stopping to take off his own clothes. Zane wrapped a loose fist around himself, stroking as more and more of Ty’s clothes came off. “None of that,” Ty growled, throwing his shirt on the floor before leaning forward to smack Zane’s hand away from himself. “I’m going to have my wicked way with you, remind you who you belong with.”

Smiling at that, Zane did as Ty asked. He always did love it when Ty got all possessive like this. It was usually a portent of good things to come. 

Ty got the rest of his clothes off and crawled on top of Zane, his body a pleasant weight pinning him to the mattress. Tangling his hand in Zane’s hair, Ty kissed him slow and deep, and Zane relished every slide of his tongue, every roll of his hips. Being with Ty was an assault on every one of his senses and often left Zane feeling overwhelmed in the best sort of way. 

He slid his hand down Ty’s body, over all the scars Zane had long since memorized. Ty’s body was that of a warrior, a story of a life hard-lived, and Zane loved it. At this point, he knew what each and every scar was for, and they all made him that much prouder of his husband. Ty was a fighter, a survivor. He’d been through so much, almost lost everything so many times, and yet, here he was, continuing to thrive against all the odds. 

Likewise, Zane’s body was similar, scar-riddled and worn. But Ty seemed to find him beautiful and Zane would be forever grateful for the love of his husband. Ty was touching him in return, nearly reverent as he trailed down Zane’s body to replace Zane’s hand with his own. He stroked Zane a few times and watched his face. Zane no longer tried to hide what he was feeling, least of all from Ty, so his pleasure was written all over his features. Ty sat back on his haunches, smiling down at Zane as he gave a few more strokes before releasing him and reaching for the lube they kept beside the bed. 

Spreading his legs wider, Zane let his knees fall to the side as Ty slicked his fingers and pressed two inside Zane immediately. He moaned and writhed, knowing he could easily come with Ty’s fingers along but hoping that Ty would be inside him before he did. 

“God, Zane. Look at you,” Ty mumbled, though Zane doubted he was actually talking to him. Zane doubted Ty even realized he’d spoken. Ty was watching where his fingers disappeared inside Zane, his body yielding easily to the intrusion. Zane could almost picture it, knowing that he enjoyed watching when he did this to Ty as well.

“Ty, please,” he begged, lifting his hips to take Ty’s fingers deeper, though it wasn’t enough. It was good but it didn’t compare to Ty’s cock moving inside him. 

Not making him wait any longer, Ty slicked himself and pressed in, his eyes locked on Zane’s as he did so. Zane’s mouth fell open in a silent gasp as his body stretched to accommodate Ty. His body burned with desire and need and Zane lifted his hips to let Ty in even more. 

“Fuck, baby,” Ty groaned, dropping his forehead to Zane’s, pausing long enough for Zane to catch his breath. 

But Zane didn’t need that, he didn’t want to wait even a moment longer. “Move, Ty.” He rolled his hips, urging his husband to do just that. 

Ty didn’t need any more encouragement and pulled back before snapping his hips forward, taking Zane again and again until they were both panting and crying out. No soft and sweet lovemaking, this was hard and fast, Ty claiming him with every roll of hips, every nip on his skin, every gasp of unadulterated pleasure. Not that Zane needed a reminder. He knew he’d given his heart to all those years ago and he would never stray. No idiot cutsomer or anyone else could pull him from Ty now. But he enjoyed Ty reminding him of that with words and deed. 

When Ty’s hips stuttered and he emptied himself inside Zane, Ty stroked Zane to completion as well, spilling over his stomach and chest. 

Ty collapsed next to him and pulled Zane close, the two of them cuddling together, ignoring the mess cooling between them. 

“I love you and only you. You know that doll, right?”

“I know.” Ty gave him a soft kiss. “But it’s still fun to remind you.”

“Feel free, any time.” They’d need to get up eventually but right now, Zane was content to stay right where he was.


	30. Stranded

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An unexpected knock at the back door has both Ty and Zane on edge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Day 30 Prompt:** Stranded

With a shop full of customers, the last thing they needed was a call in the back room. So when the bell started to ring, Ty and Zane exchanged a look that could only be described as concerned. Of all the times to get a delivery, it had to be when there were more civilians than the CIA in the shop. Sidewinder were all upstairs and probably heard the bell as well, but they could only hope they’d behave themselves and not come tearing through the shop in an effort to help.

“Want back up?” Zane asked quietly as the two of them sidled close enough to talk without anyone overhearing. 

Ty gave a slight shake of his head and kissed Zane’s cheek. “I’ll call if I need anything. Get one of the boys down here to watch the shop, just in case.” With that, he slipped out the door to the backroom, Zane watching him go with his heart in his throat. Every time they opened that door, they didn’t know what they were going to find. 

Zane sent a quick text to Nick, asking him to send Owen down, the only one they actually trusted with the bookshop part of their business, then he moved to the front counter so he could watch Ty through the CCTV in case his husband decided to do everything on his own. Because he would. 

Frowning when he looked at the screen, Zane was still frowning when Owen showed up. “What’s going on, Garrett?” he asked, glancing down at the screen. “What the hell? You two get up to the weirdest shit. Go deal with that. I’ll hold down the fort.”

With a nod, Zane hurried to follow Ty, curious about the story that was unfolding in their back room.

“Happens to the best of us,” Ty was saying, sliding a soda across the table to the other man. “Glad you remembered the address. You can stay until tomorrow if necessary.”

They both looked up when Zane stepped through, Ty with a smile and the new man in fear. “Hey, Lone Star. We have a guest. Credentials check out.”

Which meant that this was one of their agents who knew where to go and what to say in order to prove their identity to Ty. Turning to the young agent, Zane told him, “You stay behind that door. You make no noise. There are civilians out there and you are not to put them in danger.” 

“Alley Cat,” Zane said with a smirk, noting Ty’s nose curling at his newest call name, “do we need to close up out there? Ozone is watching things out there but if there is a risk, I want them all out before anything happens.”

“No one’s after him. He’s stranded, missed the pick-up time and needs a place to lay low until morning.”

Zane chuckled. “I hate when that happens. So why were you petting him on the head before I came in here.”

“You know I love my strays, doll.” 

Oh, how he did. The two cats upstairs were a testament to that. “I don’t know what it says about me that your explanation actually makes sense. But you can explain it to Johns.” Ty grimaced and Zane bit back a smile. “Show him to the rooms on the second floor and read him the rules. I’m going to go close up shop and relieve Ozone. Guess we’re ordering in tonight?” 

“The boys will want to watch a game anyway. It will be fine.” Ty gave Zane a quick kiss then smacked him on the ass, pushing him towards the door. “I’ll be right up, darlin’.” 

Zane’s chuckle only got louder when the young agent asked incredulously, “Wait? You two are married? How the fuck did you get that lucky?”

“Hell if I know kid,” was Ty’s answer and Zane couldn’t agree more. He didn’t know how he got so lucky but he wouldn’t trade Ty for the world. 


	31. Trick or Treat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trick or treaters come to the book shop. Happy Halloween!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Day 31 Prompt:** Trick or Treat

The sun hadn’t even set when the first trick or treaters walked in the door. Nick and Kelly were both running the haunted house. Owen and Digger were out getting them all dinner. Zane was at the cash register on the off chance anyone actually wanted to buy a book while there. Which left Ty to deal with all the trick or treaters that came through the shop. 

Princesses and pirates, ballerinas and baseball players came through the door, each cuter than the last. And Ty greeted each and every one of them with a smile. He complimented every outfit, let the football players tackle him to the ground. The smile on his face was one Zane only ever saw when he was playing with kids. Regardless of what he might say, Ty was great with them and it made Zane fall just a little more in love. They long ago agreed that they didn’t want kids of their own, happy to spoil their nieces and mentor the kids that came through their store. Their lives were too dangerous to feel good about bringing kids into them full time. 

But it didn’t mean Zane couldn’t enjoy a small fantasy about it every once in a while.

Too lost in his own thoughts, Zane didn’t notice a little girl in a torn princess dress until she came up to him and tugged on his sleeve. “Are you a zombie?”

Nick had done his makeup for the day and Zane liked to believe he was a fairly decent interpretation of a zombie. “I am. Is that okay?”

She nodded and pointed at her dress and then at the bite mark on her arm. “I’m a zombie princess. Mommy said wanted me to be a princess and I wanted to be a zombie so I’m both!” 

Zane knelt down so he was closer to her and grinned. “Your majesty, a pleasure to meet you. Have you found any brains around here?” 

She glanced at Ty who was rolling around on the ground with three kids who’d all tackled him and then back at Zane, shaking her head sadly. “No, I haven’t.”

Zane’s laughter echoed through the shop to the point that Ty looked up, curious. “What’s so funny, Lone Star.”

“My new friend here doesn’t think you’d be very good to eat.” 

Ty narrowed his eyes and Zane knew he was biting back any number of comments that wouldn’t be appropriate around children. That only made Zane grin brighter. “I’d taste just fine,” he mumbled. 

Zane was inclined to agree, even if he couldn’t say it right now. “Whatever you say, Meow Mix.”

The zombie princess looked between the two of them then shrugged. Holding out her bag to Zane, she asked, “Trick or treat?” Dumping several pieces of candy into her bag, Zane waved as she ran off to join her mom. 

Eventually, it calmed long enough for Ty to walk over and wrap his arms around Zane’s neck, pulling him down for a kiss. “You going to tell me what that was about?”

Zane shook his head and buried his face in Ty’s neck, kissing the skin and then relishing the way Ty shuddered when he ran his teeth gently along the skin. Ty glanced behind them, seeing the store mostly full and groaned quiet enough that only Zane could hear him. “Any chance we can let Owen and Digger watch the store for an hour when they get back? I want to take you upstairs right now.”

“Sorry, doll. I think we need to be down here. Consider this the trick for now. I’ll give you your treat later.”

“Promise?”

“Forever.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading along on this journey! It's been fun and I hope everyone enjoyed it. ILU.
> 
> Come yell at me on [tumblr](http://astudyinfic.tumblr.com) or [twitter](http://twitter.com/astudyinfic)
> 
> Also, we made a [Cut & Run discord channel](https://discord.gg/KFfErkb) if anyone is interested in joining and yelling at us about the books we all love.


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